Nothing but the truth
by forgetmenotyetforgot
Summary: Is AU some OOC. The truth is a single thread, in a web of lies, sticking to it is almost impossible, its absolute, but as part of the mafia a single lie is more important than 100 truths, they are the down fall and uprising of all. MXN later on.
1. Chapter 1

NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH

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Summary

Is AU and contains some OOC.

The truth is a single thread, in a web of lies, sticking to it is almost impossible, its absolute, but as part of the mafia a single lie is more important than 100 truths, they are the down fall and uprising of all. But now at least, I don't have to lie anymore, now I can revel to you what should have been said long ago… I give you NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH.

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Prologue

Memories are only a burden, when I think back to the happy times, the FAMILY still strong, where I could train and play with my best friends Hontaru Imai and Natsume Hyuuga… when my dad was still around.

I'm Mikan Yukihara of THE Yukihara's…

Haven't you ever heard of us, I know it's been a while since… well I guess you could say that the family went into hiding but the name should still hold some respect, right? After all we are, or should I say were the most infamous Mafia family this side of Europe, to be forgotten so easily takes the piss.

**BAKA, BAKA.**

"**What was that for?"**

"**Swearing, keep it pg. please."**

That was my best friend she said that she'll help write my story down to make sure I don't muck up. But anyway reciting our Families past charades would take too long, so I guess that I will have to refresh your memories, using my own.

Let's see we Yukihara's were so feared because of the way we were raised, for the sub-parts of our family – those which were invited to join our ranks or married a branch member – a month after their child's birth, the parents have to start the testing. Endurance, strength, intelligence and speed, any ranked member of the Yukihara clan must be extremely strong in each, if you don't reach a certain level your worthless, and depending on the current head, will be either executed or forced to do the mundane jobs of a lacky, you will never get to leave headquarters as you're an embarrassment to the family, in fact your lucky to even receive a family crest.

Of cause not all of that stuff can be tested straight away, until we are able to walk, it mainly consists of adding small amounts of poison to our food, running volts of electric through our muscles to stimulate them, and leaving us in varying temperatures to see how we cope with dehydration and frostbite, you get the picture, well let's just say that most don't get too see there second month…

Only the strongest survive, its rougher on us main branch children – the ones who OWN the Yukihara name) as we are going in inherit the whole family, our tests start the day after our birth and they're far worse - 1 in 20 get to live past the first week – within the family its known as the purging of the weak!

**BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!**

"**Oww, HONNTTARUUU! What did I do NOW?"**

"**I just read that you wrote my family as a sub-part… AND you're taking you long, we agreed no family history. Now get on with the real story."**

"**Mou, you're so mean, your family IS a sub-part or we would be related AND if I didn't do that then they weren't going to understand why there's so few of us!**

**BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! **

"**Not everyone is as dense as you Mikan!"**

"**Okay, just don't hit me again."**

Now let's see…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1 – the beginning of the end

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A/N heads up I'm new to this so bear with it. Oh and I made Mikan's birthday during summer, fits better with the story this way, if you don't like it, tuff I don't care, just deal with it. It doesn't really affect anything anyways, and if you're that fussed read something else.

….

"Miss. Yukihara your father awaits you in his office." One of papa's lower lackeys came to fetch me from my seat under an old sakura tree. The shade of the blooming cherry blossoms is hard to come by this time of summer. I glared at him and motioned to the sleeping boy next to me; if he woke up he would only be annoyed. And then take out his annoyance on me.

As I went to walk away a leg shot out and accidently on purpose knocked me to the floor.

"Strawberry print today, what a weird pattern to wear polka… or should I start calling you ichigo"

The 3 and a half year old boy with raven locks, crimson eyes and a pierced ear with the family crest as the stud, smirked at me. For a spilt second I stared at the crest before registering what he just said.

"NATSUME YOU PERVERT, I could have you castrated for that" I knew my arms were flapping and that I was screeching at him like a chicken. But I can't help it he's so infuriating.

"Tch. Whatever, you're making my ears bleed, and I'll be scared of that threat when you prove you know what castrated means… actually no not even then, ichigo print." With his final comment I stormed off to my father's office, my mood getting less annoyed but more anxious and happy, for today is my third birthday and that can only mean one thing, that's why my daddy called me in so formally.

I've never been so scared of opening my papa's door before in my life, I almost knocked before remembering that I NEVER knock and I want to at least pretend to be confident, besides his office is my home away from home, why would I knock…

I flung the door open, ignoring the bolt of electricity that ran though my body, that's why most people knock, and wait, the handle has 1000 volts of electricity running into it this side, it's enough to put an ordinary person out cold, and to at least still a sub member of the family for a few seconds, but as the main branch heir I have to get used to this feeling otherwise it would be like even the office agrees that I shouldn't run the family when either my father passes it to me… or he dies.

As I turned to close the door no longer feeling the shock from this side, I was swept into my papa's arms.

"Mikan, my favourite little girl, happy birthday times a million." Mob boss or not my dad is the coolest, kindest person in the whole world; he can light up an entire room just by walking into it. Some say that I inherited his gift but I don't see it.

"Papa, I'm your only little girl it would be strange if I wasn't your favourite" I giggled as he placed me upon his desk. You would think that with the way we are brought up, we wouldn't be able to laugh and smile, but it's the opposite; it shows us life is short so live like it's your last day, for it truly could be. I choose to smile because I can, besides smiling throws off an enemy, even in our darkest moments by smiling it can drag you back into the light before you reach the point where you don't want to go back before it becomes easier to forget yourself and embrace to darkness.

"Now Mikan, do you know why I have summoned you today" he asked in a very serious ton, taking me from my bad thoughts and bring back the anxiety. But still they tried to press against my mind. Shoo bad thoughts shoo.

"I … I … I'm me-ant t-to-o get-t my medallion to-day" I managed to stumble a mumbled sentences, the way he's speaking to me, right from his posture all the way down to his tone of voice, called to my doubts and fears, now I distrust that was the reason for my summoning more than ever.

"MEDALLION, MEDALLION. Don't make me laugh child." I gulped this man doesn't sound like my daddy anymore.

"No daughter of mine is wearing a medallion" my heart jumped to my throat making it difficult to breathe. All WORTHY children born to the family receive their own crest when they reach there 3 birthday, does this mean I'm not good enough that I can no longer be the heir, Natsume is never going to let me live this down… if I'm even allowed to live, but my daddy wouldn't do that he loves me… but the FAMILY comes first, he would have to do something, maybe I would only be exiled from the house.

"No, NO, NO." he continued clearly discounting my growing distress. "The family's heir is far too important and perfect to wear a simple MEDALLION, arrh I have just the thing." That snapped me out of the pool of depression I was feeling, he raked around in one of the many filing cabinets that lined the big old office. A benefit of having a converted warehouse as the FAMILIES main headquarters. After diligently searching for a moment he pulled out a deep blue velvet covered box

"For you my darling little girl, handing me the box, within held a beautifully shaped locket on its circular front the families crest was intricately cut into the smooth alloy, on the back were only five word that said 'Light shall always banish darkness' when the latch opened a picture of my parents smiled from within, the other side remained empty.

"Would you like to put it on?" his soft voice echoed in my head, and all I could do is nod. Too shocked to form a coherent sentence.

Did I mention my dad is the most evil, amazing, cunning, wonderful IDOIT that ever live!

...

A/N oppys doddle i forgot to say that i dont own Gakuen Alice...  
>well i dont own Gakuen Alice kk... thats just wishful thinking!<p>

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	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2 – without caution, you fall.

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A/N meet chapter two, btw I'm new to this whole writing thing, so bear with me if the story sucks.

Although if it's that bad, burn it to the ground kk.

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Home school a blessing or a curse, the best thing about being home schooled is that the lessons are shorter and the curriculum harder, I dread the idea of learning at the same rate other kids our age do, take maths for instance I love maths, numbers and myself just click.  
>The downside almost out ways the upside. I only have two friends Hontaru Imai and Natsume Hyuuga. They are the only others that survived our years purge, I would love to have more friends that are bubbly and talkative like me, it gets boring trying the converse with two brick walls.<p>

Although my cousin Tsubasa Yukihara is always fun to be around he's older than me and has other things to do than entertain me, Natsume for some reason doesn't like him. But I don't to why…  
>But my point was that it's impossible to make many friends right now, with the Koizumi's trying there up most to undermine our every move and take us out, me leaving the family grounds isn't going to happen, after all as 'princess' if they got their hands on me it would be like aiming a bullet filled gun at the families heart, then pulling the trigger.<p>

By the age of 4 the tests were becoming more and more extensive, I was taught everything from how to act injured to how to break someone's neck, each exercise more gruelling than the last, I would wake in pain and go to sleep in even more pain, my father was personally training me, so that I would reach my maximum potential, when family business called uncle Shiki would take his place he was just as hard, if not more so, Tsubasa was always willing to spare with me. But after a few days my dad would be back, and I would once again spend most of my time with him.

You might have noticed that I don't speak of my mum much; she's not dead or anything, she just hates anything to do with the family, if it wasn't for my dad and sometimes me she would never have stayed, she chooses to live away from the main office and since I have to stay here permanently I see her maybe once a week.  
>Our encounters are normally brief and awkward, I don't hate her, and I'm not sure how she feels about me… I know that she never wanted children. But she was obliged to because of who she married. Truth be told I've never really had anything in common with her, except for the fact that we are both girls and share an interest in pretty things like clothes and jewellery. If we talked it would be about that, or she would be bringing me new clothes because I have never been to a mall.<p>

Whereas I would be around my father as much as possible, when he went away I missed him dearly my only comfort being that he would be home soon.  
>Subsequently when he didn't come home at the scheduled date I was the first to notice, the first to get really worried, the others thought that maybe he had just been delayed, but I knew something was wrong. My gut told me that the deal must have back fired and my dad was in trouble.<br>It took me less than 24 hours to convince uncle Shiki, he sent someone to check out my father's hotel and the place the deal was meant to be only to find a destroyed hotel room, no sign of the deal ever taking place, and a note addressed to me all it read was:  
>- 'Don't worry too much, I'll be home soon, remember all that we spoke of, be strong my child. xx'<p>

I knew at that moment, it was more than just a bad deal that forced him into hiding, something much bigger was about to happen.  
>Unfortunately I didn't have time to worry about my father, with him gone, that left ME his oldest and only air in charge of the family. But I didn't want anything to do with business deals and family matters at the moment; I could only mourn my father.<br>Instead I appointed uncle Shiki as the temporary house manager. After all he has been my father's right hand man since they were both still toddler's. He knew the families on goings better than the back of his hand.  
>I on the other hand, I locked myself away. Refusing to eat properly or to talk to anyone… even Hontaru.<p>

It was 2 months into my chosen solitary confinement when Natsume had finally had enough.  
>He dragged me out of my dark room all the way to the sakura tree, never saying a word.<br>Once there he pushed me to the ground beneath the shady tree. To start, I tried resisting him, only to discover that I was weak from lack of food and sleep, I slumped to the floor, observing Natsume as he paced back and forth in front of me, eventually he stopped, seeming to take a deep breath before turning to me, eyes blazing.  
>"MIKAN!" on a normal day that would have caught my full attention - Natsume never calls girls by their first name; normally it's just hag, or ugly. I'm the exception as the pervert likes to refer to me by my underwear pattern – today however I could only bring myself to raise my head in acknowledgement.<br>"So tell me, what have you found?" He asked once he knew he had my attention, he continued once I didn't say anything clearly taking my silence as an invitation to elaborate, when really I didn't have a clue as to what he was taking about. "About your father's whereabouts…" he looked at me and clearly saw the shock run though my body when I heard my father mentioned, he gaze turned angrily.  
>"ARE you telling me you have really been sitting around MOPING for TWO MONTHS?" he hissed, getting irritated by my silence. His words stung… could I be helping.<br>"WISE UP MIKAN! Technically your head of the family now, start acting like it. You can't just be a little girl anymore." I could tell he was trying to provoke me. And it started to work.  
>I'm not ready to be in control get I can't accept that he's gone!<br>"What will Yukihara-sama say when he gets back and finds that all his daughter did was isolate herself and shaft her responsibilities onto her uncle. After all he did say he would come home soon."  
>That did it the idea of him coming back broke through my walls and I cried, truly wept as my heart fell to pieces, I hadn't allowed myself to cry when I discovered the news. I was taught not to cry when faced with sadness. But the tears came freely as I grabbed Natsume, and cried into his clothes making them sopping wet.<br>"Natsume, I don't know what to do, help me. Please." I continued to cry until my ears were sore and heavy I fell asleep against him, crying even after my eyes had closed.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3 – the strongest will, wins.

7 months, 2 weeks and 4 days since my father's disappearance.

My 5 birthday pasted, I let no body make a fuss, since there were more important matters to contend with. Uncle Shiki's still in charge, however I now sit in on all the meetings, getting to know the clients and members of the family that lived far away. A minority thought my being there ridiculous and unnecessary, the rest however accepted my presence especially after they heard what happened to the minority that didn't. all I'm saying is I was in an extremely foul mood due to I crimson eyed pervert that I'm not going to mention.

When I'm not in meetings or training I spend my time with Hontaru, I asked her to teach me the fine art of spying and blackmailing, she was of cause happy to, but at a price. The thing with my best friend is, she loves money, even at our young age, if she thinks it's not profitable then she isn't getting involved. The only plus side to our arrangement is that she is charging me hourly and I'm a fast learner, at this rate I will only be in her debt for 10 or so years.

I hadn't seen my mother in over a month, and in the most recent visits she has been behaving curiously, she talks more about the outside world and acts as if I will be part of it very soon too, not only this she has been fiddling with her wedding band an awful lot.  
>We had another scheduled meeting today; I didn't really expect her to turn up, after all she hasn't done so in the last few.<p>

When I arrived at the office – whose it is, is disputable at the moment, part of me still thought it should belong to my dad, but the rest of me agreed that since uncle Shiki was acting as the head, the offices is his, he however said it was mine as TECHNICALLY I'M meant to be the head, like I said its disputable- as I approached with the folders that I intended to look over once I decided she no showed. I started to hear the raised voices; it seems that once again my mother – who apparently decided to grace me with her presents - and uncle had found something to argue over again.

"I don't care what you thinks best for her Shiki. I'M her MOTHER, what happens to her is up to me." I stood outside the door listening since it was about me, and I knew for a fact that when I opened the door they would change the topic.  
>"I REFUSE to let you take her away, she BELONGS here, now more than ever, and her leaving would doom the family." My uncle retorted to her, I might have been in shock, but I listened carefully now more than ever, this conversation could change my whole life.<br>"I don't give a damn about this family, it took my husband away from me, and I'm not letting it take my daughter too!" her voice broke, for a second I truly believe she cared.  
>"Don't give me that rubbish, tell me something about Mikan, her favourite colour perhaps, you only want her so you and that waste of time can play happy families. Your HUSBAND who you care so deeply for, hasn't been missing a year yet, and your already replacing him" my uncle hissed at her, I could practically picture him frothing at the mouth in rage, and I was almost dense enough to contemplate that my mother was going to contradict him… I said almost.<p>

"I don't care about her insignificant likes, and dislikes. Besides Reo and I think that it's best for her to see the outside world, it can't be easy for a little girl to have been locked up her whole life." Shows how much she really does know about me and my life, my papa snuck me out of the house all the time, we didn't go to really populated areas like beaches and swimming pools, but the parks and woods were so much fun. He even showed me a safe house, which only we would know about, this way if I ever needed to hide, I would have somewhere…

That's it why didn't I think of that before, if he's hiding anywhere it's going to be there.  
>I don't have time to listen to their pathetic arguing any more I have more important things to deal with.<br>"Mother I'm not leaving, that's final. In fact I have adoption and emancipation papers right here." I lied holding up the folders, in truth they were just some overseas accounts. But she doesn't need to know that.  
>"Now please remove yourself from the premises, I will be in touch soon with the finalised documents." I walked over to the part of the office that held the my desk – it's really just a coffee table, it was the only thing small enough for me – I sat on the small sofa chair and when I could see she was about to argue, I looked at her and raised my eyebrow, a handy little trick I learnt from Natsume.<p>

"Do I have to call security to assist you out…Yuka. Or are you going to willingly leave." I let my eyes fall back to the paper which I was pretending to peruse, using her given name and not Mother must have really stung, because she turned and walked out like a robot.

"Nice going Mikan, that women irritates the hell out of me." My uncle beamed at me. Until he saw the serious look in my eyes.

"What do you need?" he replied dropping into his own chair, clearly haggard. Good that will make conversation short and easier to win.

"I need to leave the house… for a while." Thinking back it took my father and I approximately 6 hours to reach the safe house, using a few rounder about routes into Tokyo the house was on the out skirts of the city, and he said I should never go directly there.

"I would be gone, for maybe a day." I frowned that should leave enough time to dig around the house. And to make sure I'm not followed.

"How many men do you need?" His face and tone mimicked mine.

"None, and I'll know if I'm followed." I replied glancing up in time to see the shock vanish from his face replaced with a professional mask.

"I can't allow that Mikan, and you know it." He grimaced

"Fine…" I let the subject matter drop.

"Really…" it was obvious; his disbelieve about how easy he won. "You're not going to argue, and agree that I can't let you leave the house." I smirked. Another Natsume trait, I would never tell him but I think he looks cool when he smirks, hence why I'm copying it.

"Oh no, I was just agreeing to you being unable to allow me to leave, it was silly really, to even ask" I paused while his face looked relieved.

"I mean it is my house why would I bother asking for permission to enter and exit. I'm leaving tomorrow morning so don't expect me for breakfast." I smiled and shrugged as all colour left his face.

"Mikan" his tone was attempting to be authoritative, so I held up my hand stopping him.

"This isn't up for discussion Shiki" he scowled when I used his first name, why adults don't like that I will never know, I don't care that everyone calls me Mikan. "You always say I'm the true head, well now I'm evoking some of my power."

"Oh, so NOW you want to be head, you can't just pick and choose Mikan, if your head you take on all the responsibilities." He gave a thin smile knowing he had caught me there I'm not ready to take over yet, I still have a lot to learn before assuming command, but luckily my mother had given me a contingency plan.

"Okay, I'll have my mother come and collect me, and then I won't just be gone for 24 hours, but for good." I got up and made to leave.

"FINE" he shouted at me, for a second I thought he called me buff… well it was a half buff. But instead he said. "You have 24 hours, no more, if you're back by then or so help me god, I will kill you myself! And I need to at least know where you're going in case something goes wrong." Hmm if he knows where I'm off to, he can easily send someone instead of me.

Thank you my best friend

"I'll write it down, and place that piece of paper in one of Hontaru's inventions, exactly 24 after I leave it will rematerialize. Giving you my location" there all sides happy.

well i am at least and thats what really matters.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4 – epiphanies are for idiots, maybe Hontaru's right about me.

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A/N - I'm a moron and i completely fail. not ONLY did i spell hotaru WRONG, (thank you for telling me, your STAR) but its taking me longer than i thought it would to put some action into this story... I'm really sorry to those that are reading it, but its going to get really good soon, i promise... although im makeing it up as i go along, so im not even sure whats going to happen :(.

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The sun had yet to rise when I left the house early that morning, I walked 8 blocks to the closest public toilets, once inside I slipped into a new set of clothes then left though the back window, I repeated this process 3 more times walking in the opposite direction from the train station I need to get to if I want to reach my first step to Tokyo.

Even though we live in Shiki – it not as ironic as you think, my grandfather relocated the headquarters here when blessed with a second son strong enough to survive the purge as a gift to my uncle, since it was unlikely he was going to inherit the family. – it should only be a simple plane journey to Tokyo, but I took 2 planes, 5 trains, 6 buses and a cab before I was satisfied enough that if anyone was trailing me they would be hopelessly lost… not to mention my constant changing.  
>It might have been over kill but I can't afford to be followed, if my dad's there like I think he is then I need to be vigilant.<p>

The sun was beginning to set when I finally reached the small crop of woods, the cottage was situated in the middle, within a small clearing, there were signs that it had been disturbed recently. It put me on guard after all I'm not the only one looking for my father.  
>I didn't want to arouse suspicion so I didn't take any weapons with me, really starting the rethink my choice. I'm really not sure how many normal people I can take out in hand to hand combat, 3… 4 no more than 5, and that's if they don't have weapons.<p>

The door was unlocked and swung open when I pushed against it, which means that whoever was here left in a hurry… or is unskilled at breaking and entering.  
>The house was empty; it didn't look like it's been lived in for a couple of months, but it had been lived in. I searched top to bottom for a clue to where my father now was, surely he would have left something for me, some type of message. After searching a good hour, I collapsed by the window seat, it's no use there's not a scrap of paper anywhere in this house. But there had to be something, I'm sure he expected me to come here.<p>

Think Mikan it won't have been taught to you in a lesson, it would be a memory one that's close to you, one he shared. This house showed that… moments when you're together, but there are so many moments I was always with him, I sighed and my breath clouded the window slightly.

Looking up, I stared at my reflection, the light hit the window in such a way that I could clearly see my eyes… his eyes.

I gave a small smile, surely not.

_Flashback._

"Look papa, look. The windows going all foggy," my three year old self said smiling. It was raining out, so I was stuck inside, but I didn't mind much, because it just meant I got to spend the time with my daddy.

"That's, condensation Mikan, the water in the atmosphere cools down when it hits the glass turning from its gaseous state into a liquid one." He replied coming over to me.

"Con-den-sa-tion" I broke the word up, looking back at the window. My father smiled then reached up and wrote 'hello Mikan' in the fog. Causing me to giggle.

"That's soooo COOL, can I try?" I said already reaching up and replied 'Hi, Papa' back to him, it started this whole thing between us, where we would leave little messages randomly around the house, for the other to find.

_Flashback end_

Breathing on the glass, a message started to appear.

'Hey, kiddo. What took you so long? I waited around as much as I could, but I can't stay stationary for two long. Anyway I have to tell you… BEWARE there's a sheep in wolfs clothing.'

The condensed water started heating up again and the message disappeared, for good measure I rubbed the window.

So there was a spy, foolish little creature, only an idiotic sheep, would enter a wolf's lair. One little spy would be easy to take care of, but sheep never wonder far from the herd. And more than just wolf's hunt sheep. I need to fix this problem, but one things clear I can't do it within the house, and I can't ask anyone for help, for that means that the spy might catch on to me.

A plan formed within my mind, it was reckless, and stupid… my favourite type.  
>But first I have to get back to the house, and I have to do it without arousing suspicion from the one that was watching me, It was stupid of me to not think about them having the house watched.<p>

I guess this place really isn't safe anymore.

I slammed the door and trudged into the woods angrily. Pretending that, I was pissed from not being able to find anything. He was far enough away that I could tell he wasn't going to attack... just merely a sentry.  
>I huffed my way out of the forest, catching the first cab to the station, and then the train to Shiki. I was home within 2 hours, long before my allotted time was up. I stomped up to my room, keeping up the façade, slamming doors, banging my feet. No way was I going to let the spy see me happy.<p>

When reaching my room I flopped onto the bed, by now whoever was watching me would have torn the safe house apart. And I couldn't guaranty that this room isn't also bugged.

Tomorrow I would have to put my plan into action but for now, it's fine to rest.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5 – one step forward, two steps back.

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A/N sorry that its a little late, i forgot what day it was :( ... anyways if your still reading here is chapter 5.

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"Mummy" I cried down the phone. "I… hate it here!" my eyes were red and puffy by this point.

"Oh, my poor darling baby girl, I don't care what that mean Shiki says, I'm coming to get you and that's final." My mother's voice sounded outraged as she gushed down the phone at me.  
>Perfect stage one complete.<p>

Stage two is going to be slightly harder, I'm going to have to tell Hotaru that I'm leaving and then convince her to help me.

I still don't know what to say to Hotaru, but it turns out I didn't need to think of anything, by the time I had worked up the courage to enter her room, she was already waiting with the necessary documents.

"You're late. I was expecting you to arrive immediately after the phone call with your mother." My best friend replied, before hitting me on the head, with a glove shaped like a horse shoe. From my new position on the floor I looked up into the stoic amethyst eyes of Hontaru Imai, she's never been able to portray her emotions well, her facial features would reveal nothing.

But her actions always spoke loud enough.

"I will expect monthly updates and detailed reports, unless you have an extremely good reason, not too." There was no room for argument. "The binder" she motioned to the table "contains a new passport, birth certificate, student id, and background information. There's is also a duplicate of each document in case you need them; however this duplicates are blank, you're need to fill them in yourself, IF you ever need it. I take it you were paying attention when I taught you how to do that" I nodded; I was not going to forget my lessons anytime soon, after what they cost me, in pain and money.

"Good then you're dismissed, you need to pack… Mikan, I know you have a reason for doing this so I won't ask, but be careful… after all if you die, you can't pay me." She turned back to her work. I took the papers and turned away. Going back to my room, and hiding under my blanket before taking a look at them, someone might be watching and I can't afford to let them catch me out now!

3 hours after looking over everything again and again, I was packed and had my new identity down to the slightest detail. It surprised me to find out that my new name is Mikan Imai, it was a good choice really, Imai was quite a common surname, and although there are many Imai's among the family, there inclusion is unknown to most of the world. Especially rival gangs… so maybe Hontaru does care what happens to me.

I knew my mother had arrived, when I heard the shouting, uncle Shiki was not happy, and he didn't like the explanation I gave of having gotten a taste of the outside world. He put up a damn good fight, but in the end, even his power wasn't enough to hold me.

I let Reo take my bag; after all it had nothing of importance in it.

I had never been to my mother's house, but I still knew where she lived, so it surprised me when I discovered we were going in the completely wrong direction.  
>"Where are we going" I enquired once it was clear there was no mistake in the direction we were headed in.<br>"Mikan, daring. Did you really think that we would live in a place which the family has been keeping tabs on for years? Honestly don't be so stupid, we are going far away. Where the family will never find us, and I can finally be free, since we have their precious princess they can't touch me." She smirked, to bad this isn't going to pan out like she planned.

4 hours and 31 minutes later it turns out we were diving to a village on the outskirts of Kyoto, it was just country side for miles in every direction. And a village that looked like it had been taking out of the Edo period; SERIOUSLY my mother who can't go a day without some form of spa treatment is going to live in the middle of nowhere.

I'm not buying it and I don't like this Reo guy either, he act suspiciously nice and is jumpy, have I jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire… only time will tell.

Eventually after 9 pot holes and one ridiculous stretch if bending road (truly it went everywhere surely it would have just been easier to make a straight line…) the car pulled to a stop next to this big old shrine. Although it doesn't even look like it's been inhabited for years… don't tell me I'm LIVING there.

The good news is that I'm not living there and it's owned by a nice old jii-chan. The bad news is that I'm shacked up in some dumpy run down cottage next to it.  
>"Don't worry Mikan hunny, its only temporary the moment Reo thinks its safe we can go back and have an apartment in the city again." My mother sighed wistfully as I lifted my single case into the tiny room that would soon become a place of nightmares.<p>

It was early evening by the time I aired out the musty little room and gotten rid of all the bugs (real insects). I could smell dinner being cooked; well I guess there's never going to be a better time to lay down the law than now.

"Mother, Reo we need to talk." I said dragging them from their happy cuddling on the tiny sofa.

"OH, perfect we also thought that now would be a good time to tell you our secret. We'll go first, we didn't want to hide it from you Mikan but Reo and I have been married for over a month now." My mother stated waiting for me to be surprised. I just stood looking at her, did she really think I didn't already know, sigh, she is such an idiot I think Hotaru would constantly wear a gas mask around her – my best friend thinks that stupid tendencies are contagious, she dubed them idiot germs. – I noticed she was still awaiting my reply so I gave it to her.

"I already know, and no I'm not really happy with it, however it fits in with what I need so I will let it slide, listen up from today on wards I'm Mikan Imai. Mother you're still my mother, but you divorced father once you discovered he had cheated on you. Understand." She looked like she was about to protest, why can't my mother just do as she is told, once again I interjected. "Its for our protection, if I keep the Yukihara name, this little hidey-hoe will be discovered within days, if not hours. And I can hardly take his name, because the family already knows everything about him." I finished, they never said anything so I figured that was a we understand, and left the room again.

Stage 3 – complete


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6 – this cant be ordinary life, it's far too complicated.

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A/N i tried to make it a lil longer, as i wanna get this bit out of the way and start on the good bit :'(

...

I'm so bored I never thought I would say this but living like a normal kid, is the most tedious thing imaginable, I have to pretend to be slow and stupid in sports and lesson, and by putting up a dense attitude no one expects to much, I train in secret, pushing myself harder every day.

Just because I don't have a sparring partner doesn't mean I'm going to allow myself to get sloppy, I have also taken the time to tap all of the phones and bug all the houses within the village, a job that didn't require much effort as there are only like 50 houses here anyway. I have made a few friends at school, with my cheerful disposition it's hard not to, the closest being a boy named Kokoro Yome or Koko to his friends, I met him on my first day of school, and we clicked, he sort of reminds me of Natsume, not in looks of causes after all his sandy hair and gold/brown eyes are a shock contrast to Natsume, plus he is always smiling and hasn't got a problem with showing his emotions… in fact he isn't ANYTHING like Natsume, why am I trying to compare him to that jerk anyway, he didn't even say good bye to me, I looked EVERYWHERE for him, instead of packing and learning about who I was going to be, but it was like he was hiding on purpose I HATE HIM!

But back to Koko, he likes to cause trouble, a lot of trouble and he always knows every ones secrets, I mean that kid is more in the know than I am, and I have the phones tapped and the houses bugged. What I like most though is that he also has no trust for Reo, on my first day he told me to be wary of him… instant friendship. Sometimes I worry he knows too much about me as well, and that prospect scares me, we have been in hiding for six months and sometimes he looks at me with sad eyes like he KNOWS. I admit that I have contemplated telling him my story; it would be good to have an ally, someone I could trust, but I can't seem to find the courage to admit it to him.

It's not an easy subject to breach; it's not like I can just approach him and go "hey Koko, we've been friends for a few months now so I wanted to tell you I'm a member of the mafia, head of the Yukihara family in fact. And right now I'm in hiding because there's a spy that's trying to wipe us out…" get real as if, although thinking about it he would probably laugh and think it was all just some weird joke.

Schools not nearly as much fun as I thought it would be, I got teases about my pigtails, and not many of the girls speak to me, they think I'm too rough, the work is boring and I can't stand there version of physical education, they should let me teach the class, now THAT would be educating.

But the teacher didn't seem to agree, in fact he went red in the face really red, I was waiting for the steam to come out of his ears and his head to explode, I hadn't even done anything wrong, just play fighting with Koko, we got bored of his easy warm up. And so I started teaching Koko some basic moves, pretending that I knew them from watching lots of fighting Anime.

So I'm stuck here in detention, ever heard of detention, I hadn't until today, apparently it means the teachers get to make you stay at school, when all the other kids go HOME.

So I sit here waiting for that pathetic excuse of a man to release me so I can finally go home.

I wish something bad happened, just so I wouldn't be fed-up anymore. Boy was that a stupid thing to wish for.

By the time I was finally free, the sun had set leaving just a cloudy sky, and a wind that's starting to bite at my finger, spring in this village isn't as forgiving as the one back in Shiki, back at the main base the walls were all insulated and it was never cold, here though the thin walls of that crumbling old cottage didn't keep much heat in, there were night where the wind howled and shock the house, in such a way that it would collapse, while letting so much cold into it that I thought I would freeze to death in my sleep.

My mother doesn't seem to care; it's like this silent mutual agreement between us, if I stay out of her way she stays out of mine. I find that I spend most of my time with Jii-chan, he's kind and I'm always welcome in the shine, sometimes Koko and I play tag in the grounds, and he smiles when I outrun the boy, which is always.

He is what I feel a grandfather should be like, I never knew mine, both died before I was born, and neither parent speaks of them… I have a feeling that my Mother didn't like her farther very much, and my father is still fighting the grief of losing his.

How I miss my dad, after all it's been over a year since I last saw him and I'm no closer to discovering where he is.

The winds picking up and is tugging at my scarf and hat, I pull my coat closer and pressed on, wanting to get home before the storm hits. Maybe I can stay at Jii-chans tonight, it's warmer there…

I decide my mother won't like it as I walk past the old shine. Finally I reach my door, and am about to open it when it slams open, revealing a worn Reo who looks down at me with murderous distain.

Great what have I done now? I looked at him, and fully took in his rag tag appearance, his messy hair, lose tie and un-tucked shirt nearly distracted me from the barely visible bruises on his hand. So I smirk at him.

"Rough day at work." I allowed my voice to be slightly snarky.

"IN. NOW" was his reply hand clenching slightly in frustration. There was no love lost between Reo and I, of cause, he tried to be reasonably friendly in the beginning, shortly after realizing I don't want another Dad, or a Dad like friend. In fact he was lucky I even took my time noticing he was there.

I slid into the house completely ignoring him as he tried to make his presence felt. It was hardly intimidating.

I headed straight for my room, I can't be bothered to listen to the lecture he is sure to give me, I was a couple of stairs up when he grabbed the collar of my t-shirt and yanked me down again, I fell to the floor pretending to be weak and hurt – like I said I don't trust the guy, so I'm hardly going to let him see how strong I am – He smirked, his enjoyment at my hurt obvious.

Damn that BASTER I swear I'm going to ring his neck, I might not have killed before but I will make him my first! I tried hard to hide my malicious thoughts as I picked myself up off of the floor.

"Pay attention to me brat, I'm only going to say this ONCE. You will be in before dark, every day, no matter the reason. Or you will be punished." I withheld a snort at the thought of him punishing me. I started to picture how he would crumple once his neck snapped. Wait is he still talking.

"I SAID DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" understand what, should I tell him I wasn't evening listening…

I saw his hand long before it made contact with my face, the twitching of his fingers, the hesitation, the tightening of the muscle, all as if it was in slow motion. I could have easily dodged it, but after calculating the power behind the hit, I knew I could take it no problem, once it collided I went down again, in mock agony, I let the tears build up in my eyes.

"Don't forget that, little girl, AND don't ever disobey me." He walked away. God I could kill him, show him real pain. I hold my tongue, sitting where I am to contemplate my next move. I got out of the main office to search for my dad, and so far I haven't done ANYTHING to find him. Damn this to hell. I stormed up to my room.

Checking the monitor I set up, which gives me video feed of all the surrounding houses, has become a day ritual, but I was about to flick them off again after a moment seeing as there is never anything unusual, except this time there was… it was Koko, he was standing looking directly at the camera, surely he didn't know it was there, the cameras as small as a fly… to my disbelief he held up a note pad. It read

'Hello Mikan.' He flipped the page

'I know you have been watching everyone, but I don't know why.' Again the page changed.

'But it's not just you, I found another camera, don't worry I put clothes over it so that it can't see me, and I'm not sure if they're listen, hence the note pad.' Waiting for him to change the page and write is maddening.

'I hope you will tell me what's going on eventually, but for now I will kept a look out and report back to you." I didn't know what else he could have to write, but he turned the page and in true Koko style finished with

'That's all boss, communication terminated' he disappeared from my sight and I stood there is complete astonishment, why did he have to use boss?

Who the hell is this new enemy…? I have enough on my plates with the Koizumi's, the family, hell even Reo is a pain in my backside.

Reo… it can't be him, he a pathetic, weak moron! But he is in a prime spot to be my number one suspected.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 7 - Getting what you want is only a plus.

4 years, that's how long it took me before I decided Reo was of no more use, I had turned their secret agent into my double one, without arousing even the tiniest hint of suspicion, as suspected he was employed by a dud company, and after searching through a paper trail, filled with dead ends and password protected sites, the Koizumi's name appeared, figured really, those people are a nightmare!

And speaking of nightmares, Reo is trying to make my life one; I get daily beatings from the cowered, they were always in places that my clothes covered, his record showed that he gets a lot of practice, the Koizumi's number 1 _information retriever_, he always got his hands dirty, but his relationship with the Koizumi's was buried, hell so buried it was almost as well hidden as the Imia's are.

Koko knows everything now, has done for years… in fact I think it only took me a week to confess my real life to him after his little impromptu message to my camera, he had I good idea with the notes, although we made them more cryptic, which in itself was fun. I'm still not sure how he magically comes up with his information, he once told me that he didn't know how it worked either, he said it was like everyone just told him, without him asking or wanting the information.

But it became very useful in taking out the Koizumi's,

I haven't forgotten my purpose of finding my father, but I ran out of ideas on where he might be, so instead I decided on taking out the obstacles that were stopping him coming home to me. Reo's presence being the first.

I had everything he owned identified and wired, he couldn't so much as wear his wrist watch without it monitoring his heart rate, every phone call, every conversation, every meeting and it seemed the Koizumi's had put _so_ much faith in him, detailed plans, missions, and interrogation subjects. It seemed that his time at the office has been increasing, no doubt looking for the leak, ha, he never even suspected himself.

Why would he, after all he _dominated_ his _home_ life, an oh so obedience wife, who though the sun shone out of his ass, and a step daughter that was_ terrified_ of him and could do_ nothing_ against him.

Speaking to Koko directly about family things was impossible, so notes in class were very handy, and on the odd occasion that the teacher caught the note, he could make neither hide nor hair of it.

It was important that he didn't understand, but he soon worked out it was Koko and me, which of cause got us in trouble, so only important notes were passed around the class the rest of them to be messaged back and forth between us, and today was EXTREMLY IMPORTANT.

Riri, vli qp yhdr ovit wqp fvqs fikhn, mwqdw tlhup khfh vlfvqljhz, nig qu?

(Translated for you – 'Koko Reo is back from his _trip _today, which means data retrieval, you in?')

Pgvl fwqux yipp! Ml'zz xi fo nigvp pfxhqxwf hoflv pwdiiz

(Translated for you - 'Sure thing boss! We'll go to yours straight after school.')

I smiled at his reply, he never let the boss thing drop after he found out who I really was, who knows maybe when this is all over with I can integrate him into the family.

I waited for Koko at the gates, but it had started to get dark, and boy did I know the rule about being in before dark. I mean just because I can take it, doesn't mean I like pain, and fractured ribs **_cane_**. Lately he is becoming more agitated, he is quicker to hit me, reaches for his belt without even the slightest hesitation, work must be going bad for him… I wonder why, I smirked at the idea of the Koizumi's turning and beating each other to find the spy, I pondered how long it will take him to work out its him, and it's all my doing, he won't be pleased, and he will be even livider when he finds out it's been going on for four years.

I was about to leave, and let Koko catch up when he rounded the corner of the school building, walking at a leisurely pass.

"KOKO, HURRY UP ITS GOING TO BE DARK SOON!" I screamed at him from across the playground. He knew what I meant by that, and his pace had immediately quickened, instead of slowing at the gates like I expected him to, he grabbed my arm and ran faster, pulling me along with him.

"Sorry, got a detention for one to many snarky comments in poetry, but the guy was asking for it" he stated, while running, I was please at his progress (not in poetry and snarky comments) but in his stamina and strength when I first started training him three years back he couldn't even do a 100 meter dash without crumpling in fatigue. He sure has come a long way.

"Mikan speed up, or else…" he said pulling me from my thoughts.

Oh so he thinks he can boss me about… I held his arm tighter and let my speed suddenly surge he toppled as I overtook him, the only thing keeping him up was my grip.

"What's wrong? I thought you were faster than this." I turned and looked at him with an innocent smile on my face, he grunted and regained his balance, but I still wasn't enough, so I slowed a little, there was no need to tread on any more of his pride.

We reached my house in record time; no really, I had been timing our sprints from school to my house, as motivation for Koko, it takes me 5 minutes at full speed. Koko is currently at 15 minutes. But today it took only 13.

"Great job, 2 minutes faster than yesterday." I went up to the door, using my key to open it.

"Easy for you… to say, miss 5 minutes" he growled back slightly out of breath, and a little sulky, he constantly gets like this when I best him, which is always.

"Don't sulk, we have work to do." I chastised him with all the authority I would use on a family member. He nodded getting back to business. Once inside I turned to face him, putting on the act of childish conduct that was necessary for this house hold.

"Come on in Koko, I'll get you a drink" I turned to the living room "Mum, Koko came home with me, we are going to work on our homework together" I waited for her nod of confirmation, before turning back to Koko. "Don't forget to take off your shoes." I said as I ran upstairs.

Over the years my relationship with my mother is only marginally better, but for as long as she is around Reo I can't trust her. Once upstairs I started setting up some of the monitors Koko went to set up the rest. We worked in harmony a comfortable silent ensued as we tapped at the keyboards.

(If you're wondering where I got all this stuff from, well it's simple, in the few hours I had before I left the house for good; I set up a safety deposit box. I had money and all the spare documents stashed there under a different name. 'Ichigo Sakura' is the name I chose, at the time, I thought that if I could ever tell Natsume he would get a kick out of it.)

"Mikan Reo is coming" Koko alerted me shutting down and hiding his screens while pulling out text books, I did the same. And we pretended to study. It wasn't long before Reo slammed my door open, clearly in a bad mood. He looked at Koko, who politely said "Hello Mr Mouri" waiting for Reo to make I rather rude grumble type of noise before he let his eyes return to the book.

"I'm glad to see you doing your homework Mikan; I would HATE a repeat of what happened last time, when it wasn't done." His eyes burned into me.

"Yes, sir" I mumbled the reply, it would take me half a second to strike his voice box it such a way that it would never work again, instead I stayed perfectly still not making eye contact, because he would surely see what I was planning. I felt Koko shiver next to me; I swear that boy can read my mind.

"I'm going back down stairs, I would like I a word with you after you have finished up." He said slamming my door shut without waiting for a reply. Damn that arrogant, obnoxious, no good cowardly, pathetic excuse for a human being, I swear I'm going to destroy him.

"Calm down Mikan" Koko tried to soothe me. He just sat there with his hand on my head waiting for my breathing to even out.

"You should go and see what he wants, otherwise he will just get angry, and you will have to let yourself be hurt again." I nodded and got up walking towards the door.

"Thankx Koko, you're the best, I don't know what I would do without you."

He was sitting at the kitchen table when I ambled in.

"Take a seat." I did without looking into his eyes, it must be serious since he has neither threatened or beat me yet. "Mikan, I'm going to get straight to the point, I want you to take my last name. It's been 4 years since you started up this whole Imai nonsense. And the fact that you haven't already taken my last name is bringing shame on the family." He waited for my response, and I stared blankly at him, what is his angle? By changing my last name he would gain practically nothing… except access to all of my files! That sneaky BASTARD well there is no way in hell I'm going to give him any form of admission to information my family so carefully buried.

"I'll think about it…" I left it at that and slid out of the room.

I swept past his jacket that was flung over the staircase's rails my hand darting out to retrieve the small recording device, I had earlier attached to his centre button.

Back in my room I noticed Koko had already loaded up the monitor which downloads information. The archives transferred rather quickly, and I plunged a set of head phones into the monitor giving one to Koko, the voices were a clear as day, and we came across nothing, well that was until we heard Reo say 'Master Koizumi' my eyes widen as I focused on the recording giving it my full attention. Meetings with Koizumi himself were rare but the info was always juicy.

"I'm disappointed in you Reo, you're my top infiltrator and spy, yet 4 years in and you bring my NOTHING, you don't know of **his** whereabouts and you say his **DAUGHTER! HIS HIER!** is a useless piece of garbage, well then it's about time I pulled you off of this case and put you somewhere that's useful."

"Yes Master, what should I do with the bait?"

"Kill them, since they are obviously not tantalising enough for him to come and get, then they are useless."

"And the Girl…"

"You said it yourself didn't you? Trash! Well she can go out with the rest of the garbage. Now get out of my site, I have to return to that inadequate school and pretend I give a damn."

He was talking about us, my mother and I…

I didn't want to have to do this but it looks like it's time to involve the family…

I need a distraction, and with them, all of hell braking lose wouldn't be as terrifying.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 8 - Be careful or tragedy will ensue

…..

A/N – sorry it took so long, I had to write a 2000 word essay on killer T cells, for biology :S

And then when I finally finished the chapter fanfiction wouldn't let me sign in, it was so unfair :'(

…..

I had to use some form of trigger, if I just up and left then surely Reo would inform the Koizumi's that something was wrong, and then everything I have done up until now would be wasted. I have an idiot and as an extra plus it's going to make my family seriously pissed off at Reo…

That is if they care, I wonder if they have forgotten about me, or if they have decided that I'm no good and don't deserve the title of family head.

So tonight I decided to provoke Reo, oh it was fun, I got to tell him to stick propriety up his ass and that I wouldn't take his last name even if he beat me to death. I even got to spit on him at one point.

He was so angry that he could have been confused with a caveman, unintelligible words left his mouth as he drew his belt back to hit me again, this time I moved directly into its path letting it split my lip wide open, so that the blood would spill over the bottom half of my face, and even he wasn't stupid enough to continue once I had sustained a facial injury knowing that it would cause problems, instead he locked me in my room, just like I had hoped and planned, with any luck I would have a day before he even consider checking on me, this punishment was a common occurrence, little did he know that I just jump from my window and hang with Koko until it's over and I'm _'free'_ to roam around again.

My Uncle did say if I ever need him, I knew where to find him and after the beating I had just _'received'_ I think it's the perfect time to cash in on that promise.

The 4 hour journey back to Shiki seemed to take impossibly long, even in the back of the different cabs I kept glancing out at the other cars suspiciously,.

Sure my father taught me how to move unnoticed but I can't help fill on edge, no matter how well my plan went down it was still going to be bad. And I wasn't even sure if that after my father disappeared and I left, that the old warehouse was still being used as the main headquarters, but it was my best shot and first real stop, that didn't included changing cabs.

My doubts it seems were uncalled for, as I stand at the main entrance, watching the guard make his rounds, he was dressed in a full black suit, and looked like most security guards, well maybe the fact that he was 6 foot 5 and built like a brick wall would put intruders off, but the cufflinks peeking out under his blazer was prof he would be far more dangerous than a normal man, each the shape of half the family crest, polished and shinned so that when the sun shone upon them it reflected back in a blinding beam of light.

That's what I like to see, someone who is proud of being a part of my family, I had been around my mother so long, I was starting to forget that not everyone hated being a member of my clan, only she did.

Well let's put him to the test, because pride comes before a fall. And boy it looks like it would hurt if he fell from up there.

I remember when my father gave me my crest, he said that they were made using a unique alloy, and that's why each family member only gets one, if you're stupid enough to lose it, or give it away its basically the same a forfeiting your right to be a member of the family, my locket had left my neck only once, and that was merely so I could place my mother's ring on the same chain, after Reo, I didn't fill she had the right to own it anymore, and of cause I was NEVER going to let him get his grubby little hands on it.

The guard spotted me as I approached, I didn't slow even when he pulled his gun on me, no Yukihara should show weakness, especially to a lower family member, he hesitated and I guess after factoring in my size, height and age – I'm barely 4 foot, and my petite fame doesn't give much away – he lowered the gun slightly and his tense stance became marginally more relaxed, however he was still edgy, anticipating an attack only now composed and professional.

Good at least I know the guards haven't been slacking off in appearance training, after all if you could win by buffing why bother fighting and wasting the energy.

"This is private property little girl, you need to leave" he called out as I sustained my steady pace towards him, god how I wished to tell him how right he was, and that it was MY property, but I kept my loud mouth shut for once knowing those words could and would be taken as a threat, and I really don't want to see if I can still evade bullets right now, instead I chose the formal way in which a client or a new customer would reply.

"I have business with the current head, Shiki Yukihara, and would advise you to step aside… Sir." I could fill his rising tension and shock radiating from him, where I stand a few feet away I didn't want to get to close in case he decided to act upon the distrust in his eyes.

"Sorry but he is a very busy man, and isn't seeing clients today, there are important family matters to deal with, so run along home little girl" he SNEERED at ME, does this patronising git have ANY idea that if I wanted him to be dead he would have been already!

No Mikan he doesn't so calm down before you kill a member of your own family, so I took a deep solid breath and coolly stated "What a coincidence I AM FAMILY, but I don't have much patients for fools so step aside NOW!" I could see him struggling to withhold his laughter, I inched closer keeping my face void of emotions, and he immediately pulled his gun up in line with my head, so I pulled my locket above my shirt allowing him a full view of the crest.

"How did you…" I didn't allow him to finish that question, his hand had crawled towards the trigger of the gun, so I grabbed his wrist and twisted it in the wrong direction until the reassuring snapping sound was heard, before an agonising breached his lips and others came running to his aid, I jabbed his voice box silencing it, finally chopping the point where his neck meets his spin, with enough force to kill an ordinary man, but as a member of my clan he was only knocked unconscious, all of his injuries would heal, but they would take time and it would be painful, serves him right for pissing me off.

I grabbed his unconscious body by the collar of his shirt and started dragging him along behind me, well I could hardly leave him there I want to surprise my uncle and what better way that with an comatose henchman, it didn't take long to reach his office, and I met no more resistance along the way which in itself was strange, it must be the monthly meeting between the branch heads and the boss, it was one of the only times in which the boss refused to see clients, the others being things like giving birth and dyeing, but I don't think I have to really worry about my uncle in either of those aspects, nonetheless the monthly meeting would be very useful this way I only have to explain the situation once!

When reaching his door I didn't bother to knock I just laid the unconscious guard against the frame and turned the nob, the electric jolts greeted me like an old friend, and the door fell inwards with all the extra weight pressed on it he landed on his face and I heard a crack… damn that's got to hurt… he must have pride that rivals Natsume.

I waited until I heard the steady click of many triggers being pulled back on the hand guns within the room before revealing myself.

"Uncle Shiki, next time you place a guard I think you might wanted to look into their ability's more carefully" I causally told him, hands in the pockets of the dungarees I was currently wearing – that's right I never did explain my day to day outfits, well if I dress myself normally it's jeans, dungarees and sweat, with simple plain T's, aka the easiest clothes to be mobile in, whereas if my mother see me, she forces me into dresses, skirts and these frilly things that I THINK are meant to pass for tops. Anyway - I walked in the room using the man's body as a make shift platform, coming to rest on his head, stared at my uncle then gave one of my biggest smiles, he hadn't changed a single bit in the last 4 and a half years… well he looked slightly worn and his hair was thinning and grey at the sides but that's all really.

"Mikan… My eyes must be deceiving me; you devil how on earth are you here? Why on earth are you here?" His smile mimicked mine as his familiar voice washed over me.

"I'm not the devil, I'm his daughter…" I stuck my tongue out at him. But then all the playfulness left my voice.

"We need to talk."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 9 – Deception leads to disgrace

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A/N sorry it took so long, I got myself banned from the pc… blame my dumb ass of a little brother!  
>im still not meant to be on it... but i had to give you guys something xx<p>

...

"We need to talk"

"What do you need" his tone mimicked mine, dead and ready for business, that is until he saw the slowly healing split on my lip, anger took over his voice, his face a mask of poorly concealed rage.

"Who did that do you" he demanded in a venomous hiss, looks like they still care about my wellbeing, score 1 to me, death sentence of Reo.

"Well that's the reason I'm here, the one who did this is nothing I can't handle, but he works..."

"You mean the one that hurt you is ALIVE. MIKAN WHATS GOING ON?" he looked almost pleased …sadistic old man.

"Well if you stop interrupting I'll get to that, the man I have been LETTING hit me, works for the Koizumi's" I went over and sat on the monstrous desk within the offices, force of habit as my father used to give me a pretend mission, I would report back to him while sitting on the desk, although this time it's a real mission, and I'm not reporting back to my dad but a room full of shocked faces. I smirked at the way some of their mouths were hanging open. "Did you really think I had opted out? What type of head would that make me…" I said given them the evil eye (Koko taught me how to do it, I think I look stupid, he said I look ready to torture someone) and from the looks on their faces I'm guessing I need more confidence in myself. "Over the past 5 years I have been investigating the Koizumi's, and right now I can tell you 3 main things:

1. My father lives.

2. The Koizumi's want him… badly

3. WE HAVE A RAT!"

I waited for the chaos to ensue, funny how stupid most people look when shouting, my uncle was trying to calm everyone, while one man stood in the corner, looking impassive and completely calm. I knew him very well, his slick black hair and deep set amethyst eyes reminding me of a dear friend, and although he seemed impassive I could tell he was calculating all the uncertainty's and possibilities, he looked up to see me staring at him and flashed a week smile, before the emotion disappeared and he went back to scheming. I slid of the desk and over to him, avoiding the mass of shouting morons.

"How is she?" I whispered

"Pissed off… at you no doubt" his monotonous voice replied.

"I find that hard to believe, her not only showing emotion, but towards something I do, it's too implausible." I tried not to laugh at the very idea, of her with an annoyed face,

"Oh really" he rose his eyebrows. "Well allow me to clarify just how bad it is. 2 days ago, she slammed her door and last night she hit a plate against the table. It cracked." His eyebrows fell, and his face went blank again, it's so weird how they can do that.

"That bad" I winced I know it doesn't sound like much to a normal person, but when it comes to Hotaru Imai it's the equivalent of a violent tantrum seriously that girl is more stoic than her father, hell even her mother can't compare, she only cares about money… and apparently me!

The only reason I didn't send her a report is because I figured I could do it in person today.

I was about to say more when my uncle was finally able to achieve calling the room to order.

"Mikan tell us everything"

So I did… well kind of, I told them every suspicion, all the recorded phone calls and photos from hidden camera's the only things I kept hidden were Koko, and the places my dad maybe hiding.

The few faces that I could only faintly recognise, or didn't know at all – must be knew to the family – didn't know what to say, whereas those closest to me, my uncle and Mr. Imai included wanted to rip Reo to shreds.

I couldn't tell if the 'sheep' was among those here, I could only hope that they weren't.

I didn't feel the need to rush back to Kyoto, after all with the family on side I only had to catch a train and one cab back to that hell. Instead I plotted in the office with my uncle and the branch heads for hours, I wanted to see Hotaru and Natsume, but that's seems impossible right now, although I could use Hotaru's intelligence and information gathering abilities every time I tried to sneak out someone would stop me with a question or a possible infiltration plan.

I had an idea, but for it to work, I would have to die…

Let's just say the others weren't very pleased with that notion, but right now it seemed like the only option, so while the others were busy formulating plans that would never work, I talked with the only two people in the room I trusted with my life, quite literally.

The fake plan was to send me back along with Hotaru; there we would wait for the signal that meant the family was in place, at all of the meeting spots that had belonged to the Koizumi's which had been found over the years, it didn't matter whether they were active of not, mainly its was to keep them out of the way, without them realising, but they hoped to kill or capture most of the Koizumi's that way, once the signal was given I would spring my own attack, capture Reo with Hotaru's help then wait for my uncle and Mr. Imai to arrive to haul his sorry ass off for _interrogation, _it wasn't a bad plan, but it wouldn't reach the root of our problem, and the Koizumi's are like weeds, you can pull as many leaves as you like, but without removing the base they grow back stronger than ever.

So I'm heading back to Kyoto next to my now stoic best friend, I say now, because when she first saw me she tested all of her latest inventions on me, she promised more when this was over as well, and it was only coming later because I couldn't fulfil my part of the plan with broken limbs, this time I made sure to find Natsume before I left, and when I finally got to see him, he spoke a handful of words to me. No really I put so much though into what I wanted to say as well…

_Flashback _

I have to find him this time, I already searched the house for him, and was now running around the garden in search for the only person I truly let push me around, sure I let Hotaru hit me most of the time, but that's her way of showing affection, and it normally only occurs when I've done something moronic, but Natsume was different, he shouts, belittles, knocks me over and even looks at my underwear yet I don't reprimand him really, sure I shout back and insult him too, but if I really wanted it to stop I only had to order him to, instead I look forward to our meetings I like it when he smirked at me, or tossed his raven hair around. So this time I WILL say goodbye, I don't care if he is sulking, or is angry at me. I just want to see him one last time.

Finally I reached the place I subconsciously knew he must be, as it was where my feet headed once I reached the grounds… the Sakura tree, our sakura tree. And I was right he was standing beneath the branches looking towards the sky.

"What ya doing?" I had crept close enough to him that he jumped before turning a furious glare at me, only for it to be replaced by shock, and then a small smile pulled at his lips.

"Waiting for you." Was his reply, I almost shivered at the sound of his voice, it had deepen slightly, if that was even possible, and that wasn't all that had changed he had grown taller, it was almost annoying that he is still taller than me, his body was lean and muscular, not overly so that he looked scary but enough for me to know that he trains every day, for a long time, and that he was strong, incredibly so. I wasn't sure if I could take him out in his current form.

His hair had naturally grown of cause, but it had been trimmed so it framed his face nicely, yet messy enough to give off the; I don't give a damn look.

"Hey polka, if you keep staring so hard your eyes might fall out." His characteristic smirk graced his face and my heart skipped a beat. So I stuck my tongue out.

"I was just seeing how much more fox like you had become." I pretended like his gaze didn't bother me, it was so good just to see him, I forgot just how much I missed him over the years.

"Hn. It's good to have you back" those words must have been so hard for him to say and my heart stilled, because I had to leave again, and this time I really didn't know if I was ever coming back and I have to tell him… I have to say good bye, a lump forms in my throat it's hard to speak to even breath, yet somehow I managed the words.

"Not for long I'm leaving again, Natsume I have come to say goodbye." His eyes narrow and he grabs me by the arms and pushes me against our tree.

"WHY? WHY DID YOU COME BACK IF YOU ONLY GOING TO LEAVE AGAIN?" his questioning eyes felt like fire burning into my soul.

"Because I have to, there are thing I need to do to keep this family safe, that's the price which comes with my blood." I answer with just as much power in my voice as in his.

"Then take me with you, you don't have to face this all alone." How I wanted to, so much, but I couldn't put him in danger like that.

"I can't, ok I just can't" I whispered weakly to him.

"So the ice bitch gets to be involved but I don't, she got letters I didn't even get a farewell, why don't you trust me!" I knew he was talking about the last time I left, but I looked and he was gone. I searched and searched until there was no time left. And I trust him with my life, hell with my heart, yes I worked out many years ago that I liked Natsume as more than just a friend.

"THE REASON I DON'T INVOLVE YOU IS BECAUSE I'M GOING TO DIE, AND I CAN'T LET YOU DIE TOO." I blurted out the words before thinking properly, vividly aware how close he was to me. I broke his hold on me while he was still in shock, and ran away before the tears fell.

_Flashback end._

Now it's unlikely I will ever see him again, but I have to focus on the job at hand not think about the what if's and maybe, we were pulling into the station in Kyoto, Hotaru was to get a cab after me, as to not arouse suspicions from anyone who was watching now we were closer, which gave me time to inform Koko about my plan, and to give him a choice.

I arrived in my room only minutes before Hotaru jumped through the open window, and nodded telling me it was almost time and to be ready. Unfortunately we didn't plan on Reo opening my door with a gun in his hand, aiming it towards my head.

"Well what do we have here, a Yukihara princess and a brat, why don't we move this little party downstairs." He motions for us to leave the room. "Arh, but I want your hands up in the air exactly where I can see them, that includes you, brat number 2." He waited until both our hands were up before continuing. "Oh and Mikan, I'm pretty sure you can dodge some bullets but what about your little friend, make any moves at all, and I'll be sure to shoot her first." We walked in silence down the stairs and into the living room, my mother wasn't here, which either meant he had already killed her, or she was just out shopping completely oblivious to the danger we were in.

He bound our hands and legs with duct tape then strapped us to the wooden chairs from the dining room, I always wondered the point of having such sturdy chairs, in this rickety excuse of a house. Now I know why, they are hard to brake, once in a bound state. I hadn't quite figured Reo's plan for us yet, but I didn't think I was going to enjoy it. And I was right to think so, once he started getting out his interrogation equipment. He started to sharpen the knife, checking the blade every now and again, by running it across my arm, leave thin but deep line which blood trickled out of, I had several by the time he decided it was ready.

"Now princess I have some questions on your fathers whereabouts which I would like you to answer, and every time you don't, your little friend gets a little cut, every time you do you get a little cut, either way you get hurt, you just get to pick how… mentally or physically." My mind was reeling what could I do, how was I going to get us out of this, just as he was about to ask the first question an alarm went off "seems we have company why don't we play a game."

He grabbed his gun while pulling out another and stood behind us one pointed at each of our chests, just as he finished positioning himself the door burst open, and Mr. Imai came rushing in. gun out and ready to kill.

"Well what do we have here? Yes the resemblance between you and brat number two is amazing. Oh why don't we play a game? You kill one the other survives, yes that does sound like a fun game, doesn't it" that's it Reo has completely lost his mind, why not just kill us both and use our bodies as shields. Why all of this messing around, he must have finally lost it. I guess prepping yourself to mutilate little kids will do that to you, no matter how many people you have killed.

"Mr. Imai, do it, shoot me!" I said without hesitation, no way was I going to let Hotaru die, not for me.

"I'm sorry Mikan, but I can't kill my own daughter" he clicked the back of the gun.

"NO DAD! Don't do it don't kill Mikan!" was my best friend crying… I can't see that, or I might regret my decision, instead I turned back to Mr. Imai if I was going to die I was going to stare death in the face.

"I'm sorry Hontaru, I can't kill you and Shiki is a good head, Mikan is not necessary to the family, or me" and with that he pulled the trigger.

I awoke it a dark room, two people's shadows could just be made out, a candle flickered to life as Koko emerged from one of the murky shadows. There other was Jii-san the temple owner. Slowly I sat up. And Koko smirked.

"Welcome to the world. Ichigo Hana."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 10 – gone but not forgotten

….

A/N opps I called her Ichigo Hana in the last chapter, instead of Ichigo Sakura like I originally planned to, I really am an idiot, really don't understand why anyone puts up with me…

(Hana was the name I was thinking about using in a different story)

And speaking of putting up with me, I wanna thank my reviewers – when I looked I was all OMG I have reviews, I'm new to the whole writing for others to see and have just got the up loading down, I don't check my email often, I figured if it was reviewed it would only get flames, since I'm very good. Not that I care about flames to each their own, and I will still upload, But I got a happy surprise when

Czeselle

12star98na

Jigokutenshi834

Like the mess that seeps out of my head :D thankx guys :) xx

…..

"What happened while I was out" I shook my head to dispel the last fragments of unconsciousness.

"Well, like predicted all hell broke loose." I raised my eyebrow at him, surely it wasn't that bad. "No kidding, once what's his name shoot you, and your uncle arrived, Reo got his face smashed in, and your uncle took your body away, while the other guy carried the girl out, she was still screaming your name." I grimaced if I ever got to see Hotaru again I was going to have a lot to explain. If I didn't get maimed I would count myself lucky.

"Anyway your uncle carried your body here, where myself and Jii-san were waiting, he made sure you were comfortable gave a letter to me and left shortly after" I nodded glad my uncle was keeping in with the plan. Getting up I looked at Koko and smiled.

"So Mikan Yukihara is officially dead…" I waited for him to clarify with a nod.

Good so the plan worked, well my plan did at least, as I knew the other wouldn't fix things properly, let me explain, I told you I was plotting something with two people. Well those two as you probably have guessed were Mr. Imai and my uncle. I needed the Koizumi's to believe that Mikan Yukihara had died. So that I could get into that school of theirs.

This way they wouldn't be as suspicious, I told them that they were going to need to find some way to shoot me, whether I got hit by a stray bullet or died saving someone else. They were carrying two guns, one was filled with normal ammo, so they could defend themselves, whereas the other, was filled with blanks I had packets of fake blood strapped to various parts of my body, and each was filled with an antithetic that when in contact with skin, it would make the heart slow and decrease the rate of breathing so much that, it would appear you were dead, they came in useful when small groups were cornered by an enemy, some may say its cowardly, but when your with your wife and children and there's no escape, by pretending to kill them so they didn't suffer, you could save their lives and they could live and grow, become strong and defend the family.

I used them to make everyone think I was dead, I had let Koko in on the plan, and it turned out Jii-san also wanted to help protect me, I told him that it would be dangerous and I didn't want him involved, but he put forward the fact that I would need an adult/guardian to make my story believable, and he wasn't going to let his granddaughter face vulnerability alone. He almost made me cry, since like I said I never had a grandfather, and his kindness and selflessness was more than I could ever ask for.

Koko handed me the letter my uncle had left for me, successfully pulling me away from my thoughts.

_Mikan_

_I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye to you properly when you woke up, but I had to get back to the family. After this, it's likely we will have to go into hiding, the old headquarters will be empty, so there will be no point in going back there, it will only put you at risk, you may not be able to contact us for some time but I will always keep you save, and so help me god if you get yourself injured doing this, I will tape your hand to my office door, for 3 days. _

_Be safe, you have made a good friend there, and maybe one day when this is all over, he can become part of the family, don't forget all you have been taught, and the end always justifies the means when your one of us, so don't be afraid to knock some heads together, or rub someone up the wrong way. I set your new life up, Ichigo Sakura– funny name choice, but it's as good as any. – your parents recently died leaving you with a fortune, and in the care of your grandfather, Kokoro Yome is to be your twin brother, only his last name needs to be changed as the Koizumi's have no information about him. And speaking of parents we can't find your mother… _

_Good luck, and come home soon_

_Shiki._

"Koko, we have work to do, so let's get to it… brother." I smiled up at him.

It took a few days, and eventually we found a place in Tokyo that screamed money, but wasn't over the top, it was a 3 room penthouse apartment and was only a short distance away from the boarding school we would be attending also known as Gakuen Alice. Koizumi senior was the chairman there, so he had complete control of all three divisions, whereas Koizumi junior aka Luna Koizumi would be attending my year. Good if I befriend her I might be able to snoop around easier.

I had a week before the start of the new term, to prepare myself and Koko for our role as sibling, we slipped into it extremely easily, after all we already treated each other like family and we were both only children. In fact Koko really was an orphan, his parents abandoned him, when he was only a baby, so he was staying it the village under the school's care, which of cause they hated since he never tried, and was happy to breeze though school. I'm surprised I never mentioned it before, it never really seemed important, so when Jii-chan said he would take Koko off the headmistress's hand she jumped at the chance. And that was before she knew he was leaving with Koko so she never had to deal with the trouble maker again.

My funeral was held a couple of days ago, well Mikan Yukihara's as for Mikan Imai, well her stepfather got a transfer and they were now living in the city.

But the point was that Koko and I could really be twins now, the first thing I did was invest in a sandy blonde wig, it really looked like real hair, I couldn't do anything about my eyes. But hazel eyes are pretty common, and as long as I can keep up a good act there shouldn't be any problems within school.

Speaking of school it's not long now, before I enter another unknown place. I hope I make more friends at this one than I did the last time around. Although I wouldn't trade Koko in for a 100 friends. It would be nice to make a friend who I can talk about girly things to once in a while. I started to realise a couple years back that I really did like pretty things like dresses, and jewellery (Not in the way my mother did, but still…) but by that time I had already got my name as a tomboy and the girls tended to avoid me. So I have to act like the ditzy, happy go lucky type that the Koizumi's wouldn't put together with their most hated rivals.

I didn't unpack anything into the apartment, after all what was the point in a few days I would only have to repack so I could move into the school dorm.

….

"Koko lets go, we are going to be late." I screamed at him from the door to the apartment. He ran out of his bedroom with toast in his mouth shirt un-tucked and tie caught round his ear, I laughed out at his appearance, I couldn't help it his looked so funny, he just gave me his best death glare with made me laugh more.

"Sorry, Miss. Perfect we don't all wake up at first light, hell you don't even need to now, and you could have woken me." He said round his toast, while slipping his trainers on and fixing his tie.

"I did wake you! _8 times! _it's not my fault you kept going back to sleep until I threw water on you." I huffed at him, now I'm going to have to run to reach school on time. And I so wanted to look like a normal girl too. I grabbed my bag and flung it over my shoulder marching out of the building not waiting for him to catch up. I heard him scuttle behind me, trying not to be left behind.

As predicted we had to run the last couple 100 meters so as not to be late. The receptionist gave us our matching time tables (Thank god) and told us to wait for the homeroom teacher to retrieve us.

He has got to be gay, I glanced at a snickering Koko who was next to me, and knew he was thinking the same thing.

"HI, I'm Narumi. I'll be your home room teacher, Ichigo and Kokoro right" the object of my disgust bounced over to us, he was dressed head to toe in a PINK ballerina outfit, pink tutu and all… surely he knows only girls wear those… Maybe he is a she, I mean the long blonde hair and earrings are not helping this confusion… I swallowed the bile that was rising in my throat; I HAVE to act un-Mikan like. So jumping up, I ran to greet him.

"Sensei, it's so nice to meet you, you guessed right I'm Ichigo, and I will be in your care from now on." Oh god I'm going to hurl… Koko just sat there holding back his laughter, now I can't have that.

"Nii-san, why don't you come and say hello properly" I grabbed his arm, with enough force to leave a bruise, and pushed his head down into a formal type bow. Satisfied I released my killer grip on him.

"Shall we go." I looked back to Narumi expectantly, lucky he was quite oblivious to just how much force I used on Koko. I smiled sweetly and waited for him to lead us into the classroom.

Waiting patiently outside the door for him to introduce us, I heard the deathly silence fall upon the room as he mentioned new students. That was our queue.

"hello it's a pleasure to meet everyone my name is Ichigo Sakura, and this is my brother Kokoro Sakura, please take care of us." I smiled my biggest smile at the class and waited for the questions to fly.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 11 – Enemies, Fre-nemies and just plain backstabbers

…

A/N – first up I'm so so so sorry it's been so long since I updated, my mum and dad made us go camping, which was NOT fun. And then when I got back I had heaps of school work to catch up on because quote from my mother 'I don't care, you can't let your grades drop!' so I finally caught up and am ahead, then wrote for 2 days straight to get the chapter up. It won't happen again at least I don't think it will.

…..

There was the normal questions, of what school we came from, do I have a boyfriend, is Koko also single, are we boarding or commuting, who is our favourite idol and what are our grade averages. But then a question I wasn't suspecting crept up.

"Ne, are you the Sakura's that we read about last week, you know the ones whose parents died, and are now minted?" a boy with short black spikey hair and slanted eyes shouted from his seat. I looked down pretending to be upset, but really I felt relieved, looks like my uncle has done a good job.

Koko grabbed my arm, and pulled me over to the seats sensei had assigned us, we had discussed this, whenever anybody mentioned our parents I would feign depression, and Koko would take on the role of the protective big brother and get angry at whoever upset me, effectively shutting down any and all queries. And making us seem mysterious, which should entice people to approach us to reveal our secrets aka an easy root into the class, I figure if Ichigo Sakura slowly reveals her personality to those close to her they will want to gain her trust, thus telling her secrets they normally wouldn't share with a stranger. And with a hostile brother who won't accept anyone but his sister, the boys will try to get his recognition.

"Mochu, you can't ask something like that" a girl with long curly pink hair shouted from her seat.

"Yeah, how would you like it if you just arrived in an unknown place and someone started asking such personnel questions?" another reprimanded him, she was right next to the girl with pink hair, and although she had straight navy blue hair and looked complete different I could swear she was the pink haired girls sister. Anna Umenomiya and Nonoko Ogasawara, I nodded to myself, I remembered there files well, both seem to attract a lot of attention for their ages, it's said that Nonoko is a genius Chemist, and is already helping pharmaceutical companies in the development of new drugs, whereas Anna is a master chief, and has a line of high class teashops dotted around japan under her control.

Did I mention this school isn't just for the rich, sure if you have money it's easy to get in, but most of the students are training to be CEO's of major corporations. Yes they maybe family run businesses and some don't care about grades, but everyone here is looking for future allies or enemies.

"Hey it was a fair question, we don't know anything about them, and whether or not there parents are dead is something I would like to know, and preferably I'd like to find out how they died as well." Another boy that looked shocking similar to Koko spoke up from his seat. This one must be Kitsuneme. I turned to Koko, to find he was lying on the desk pretending to be sleeping, so I nudged him, and whispered.

"Koko, make them stop, at this rate we might have to reveal more than we need to." He slowly sat up and stretched.

"Hey, I'm sleeping so be quite. Shouldn't you be learning or something." He barely shouted but the whole class listened. It went dead silent, so he gave a brief nod, and pretended to go back to sleep.

"Um... Sorry about my brother" I looked away quickly pretending to be shy of their stares.

"B… But, he is right… about the learning part… where did Narumi-sensei go?" I continue to change the subject.

This time a boy with big thick glasses answered me. "Well since transfer students are rare, Narumi-sensei allows for a free period, this way everyone gets to know each other." Yuu Tobita class representative, perfect student, his grades are some of the best and he could probably transfer into a higher year group, I wonder why he stays.

"That seems like a really fun idea, well you already know, a little bit about myself and Koko, but we don't even know your names." I let lose my best smile and waited for them to answer.

The boys of the class immediately started shouting out there names, Mochu and Kitsuneme included. Koko sitting up and glaring silenced them though. By this time those girls and glasses had slid from their seats and reached our table.

"Hello Sakura-san I'm Nonoko Ogasawara and this is Anna Umenomiya, but just call us Anna and Nonoko. If you need any help you can count on us… that includes your brother." I smiled at them.

"Nonoko, I'm the class rep, helping them is meant to be MY job" specs chimed in, Nonoko's smile almost turned evil.

"Hai, hai Iinchou. Sakura-san this is Yuu Tobita, he is super smart and well behaved so he is our class representative so just call him Iinchou, And speaking of you Iinchou if you want to help that much, we will give you Kokoro." Specs, or Iinchou as I have been told to call him gulped and glanced at Koko nervously, I decided to save him.

"It's okay, I can pass on the information to my brother, and please call me Ichigo" I tagged on my first name as an afterthought after all I'm not meant to be the unfriendly one. Thinking about it out of all the names that have been mentioned to me, I haven't found the Koizumi brat. If she isn't here, like she is meant to be then this whole endeavour has been pointless.

"Ne, Iinchou are there any other students in our class…" I turned on a cute face and stared at him.

"Arh, well let's see there is Ruka-kun, but he was called to the stables before school as the horses were spooked by that weird cat that lives in the woods nearby, and then of cause there is Koizumi-san and Shoda-san. They normally don't bother with classes since Koizumi-san's father owns the school." He frowned.

"It's not fair Luna does whatever she fills like and poor Sumari has to listen otherwise she threatens her." Anna huffed, surprising me since she hasn't said anything so far.

"Um, I see I take it that means I shouldn't get involved with this Koizumi person." I didn't expect an answer, and didn't really get one, only Nonoko's mumble of 'if only it were that easy' so it seems that Luna is hated just like her father, good that will make this a little bit easier.

"Ichigo, you're new to Tokyo right?" Anna was speaking again, after I nodded she continued. "Well after your parents… I mean since you just moved here, you don't know your way around yet and you probably didn't bring many personnel item, so I was wondering if you would like to come to central town with us after school, there's going to be quite a few of us so you can make more friends… that includes you Koko."

CHANCE!

"Really you want us to come… but why?" I stared up at Anna and Nonoko, searching for their reason.

"Simple it's because we are friends" the girls replied in unison, it can't be that easy, there must be some sort of plot behind this, but after close examination I can see no visible signs of lies, their eyes aren't flickering, their breathing is slow and even, and there isn't a drop of perspiration to be seen, these girls really want to be my friend… just like that, no test, no background checks it's really just shopping, wow normal kids have it easy!

"Friends… Koko I want to go, can we go." I turned to him with pleading eyes and I wasn't even acting.

"Whatever, if you go then I will come, I'm not going to leave you with a bunch of idiot strangers." Although he was speaking to me he was glaring at them. I squeaked and again it was real, surprisingly. To think that normal girls can make friends so easily. No I can't think that way; making them my friends would put them in too much danger. But I can use them for information.

After that the rest of the free period went without any unforeseen complications, I just got to know Anna and Nonoko, the next class was about to start when a blonde haired blue eyed boy walked in, I remembered from his file that Ruka Nogi is only half Japanese, hence his looks, but there was still no sign of Luna and her accomplice.

Now this period is maths, and Nonoko happened to mention the teacher is an ass, that likes to pick on people, lucky I'm good at maths, and now I even get to show it, unlike when I was living with Reo and if I dared get higher that a C+ I thought he might discover just how smart I am, but no longer am I the class clown, and as long as Koko keeps his mouth shut he'll be fine too. Sure he is smarter than most but he has a tendency to piss teachers off because their reactions make him laugh. But we get to be smart now in fact we HAVE to be it would look suspicious if we weren't.

Nonoko and Anna had both rushed for their seats when the door opened, and Ruka walked in, so evidently this Jinno person has got them scared, only when he can scare me will I be impressed.

Moments after Ruka had sat down the door reopened and in came the dreaded Jinno-sensei, he was average build and height with slick black hair, and a face with an expression like he was trying to be Yakuza (what us Japanese mafia are known as to the general public) god he looked ridiculous, to me he looked more constipated than daunting, hell maybe he was, the most threating thing about him was the little stick he is carrying around… I don't get it is he trying to be a gangster or a wizard?

I looked to Koko for answers only to see him with his head on the desk pretending to be asleep and grinning, damn it when I get home I'm going to get his head checked out, humans are not meant to be able to hear thoughts, maybe he is some weird form of alien lava. He opened one of his eyes rolled it then closed it again. I huffed and turned my attention back to class. Jinno-sensei had started writing equations on the board, equations that were wrong I might add, glancing around I noticed that nearly everyone was diligently writing down notes, must be a class of idiots, god if Hotaru was here I would fear for their safety.

Thinking about Hotaru makes my heart hurt after all she thinks I'm dead. I'm such a terrible friend, I don't deserve friends!

"Miss. Sakura, Miss Sakura" oh that's me.

"Yes Sir" I looked back to the front only to find Jinno-sensei staring at me with the vein in his forehead looking disturbingly big.

"I asked you, why you and your brother think its ok not to write notes in my class, and further more is he asleep." That veins getting bigger.

"It appears that he is sir, and as for why I'm not writing note, well its simple; it would be pointless writing down incorrect information, I can only imagine that my brother feels the same way, and has decided that learning from you would be a waste of time. Time better spent sleeping." There was no emotion in my voice nothing to hint how I feel; it was almost like I was reciting information from the encyclopaedia.

"Really well if you think you can teach this lesson be my guess." The vein was starting to recede and a thin smile formed to replace it.

"Gladly" momentary shock crossed his face, so he expected me to back down. Instead I stood and walked towards him.

"Sir, I'm going to need your marker" I stated holding my hand out for the white board pen. Turning towards the class I spoke in the same emotionless voice. Hotaru would be so proud.

"Unfortunately, you have been asked to find the roots of and equation that has no roots, it's a simple mistake to make and can quickly be checked or corrected by using b2-4ac. That will prove that there aren't any roots, I think sir meant to write these two numbers the other way round, and this plus as a minus now it can be solved". Am I right sir?" whoops I brought the vein back.

"You insolent rude brat, how dare you be so cocky in my class, I will lash you and show you your place. Your nothing but a child" he stormed towards me with his stick raised, so that's what it's for. It isn't surprising that a high classed private school like this still uses corporate punishment no wonder all of these sheltered rich kids are nervous around him, I was going to dodge when I noticed Koko had moved.

Within seconds he was standing in front of me with the stick clenched in his hand, his thumb pointed up towards its tip.

"Nobody touches or threatens my little sister; you were the one who was wrong deal with it." His voice also took an emotionless tone no doubt following my lead, with that said he flexed his thumb and pushed it up against the pointer snapping the thin piece of wood.

"Ichigo, why don't you go sit back down." He turned to me, a hidden warming in his eyes. But his speech held much more warmth, I had noticed of cause, the moment he moved to that I was going to break character, so instead of arguing or helping him, I nodded and pretended I didn't notice he was facing off against the teacher.

"Ok big brother, sorry that I woke you up." I used my sweetest voice on him, so he smiled back. And I took that as my queue to go and sit back down. From our seat I saw Koko whisper a few choice words before tossing the broken stick back at Jinno-sensei and walked up to take his seat beside me, I wanted to ask what he said but left it alone, there were to many people looking at us, he ignored all of their stares and laid his head back on the desk, I gave a weak smile before turning to look away.

Jinno left us alone and continued with his lesson after that. I wonder how they're going to react to us now, a couple of genius with personalities on the complete opposite sides of the scale yet in some ways so similar it's scary.

Well at least I can say that I'm not going to have any more problems in the maths classes… nor is Koko for that matter. Only problem now is how I'm going to explain that to the people that asked me to go shopping with them.

(A/N – this is the first time I've written at the bottom of the story, but I just wanted to say I know Koko isn't acting at all like Koko, but I really wanted to make him look cool for once, I mean he is always left as the dopey friend, but I figured for once I could make him cool enough to have his OWN fan club – and once again I really am sorry)


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 12 – A life without morals

…..

A/n I know it's very very late, but I decided to merge two chapters into one, because I couldn't decide where to end the first half, so if you look at it that way I'm still on time. (Note – this also means it should take you twice as long to read)

Dorm life isn't everything it cracked up to be, although that might be because I keep spying on the other residences, sure I like Anna and Nonoko but I can't trust them, I wonder if I could be their friends once this is all over, if this is ever over, if I survive… no happy thoughts happy thoughts!

Oh I know a happy though, I got in Luna's little click… actually on further judgement, that's what I'm most miserable about, I'm not a fan of skipping classes, and her bossy attitude mixed with that squeaky girly tone of voice really tick me off, but she is stupid, and stupid people slip up, in her case that's more often than not its funny really to think the next head of the Koizumi's is a petty girl with the IQ of a small infant… hell she even looks like an infant most of the time, since she wears makeup that's so thick she looks like she is trying to play dress up.

But as an informant she is pretty useful, even if she doesn't know it, after being around Reo so long I thought that getting information's from any Koizumi agent, would be the equivalent of getting blood from a stone - you would have to bash the agent over the head with said stone until they bleed. – but like I said Luna's an idiot and instead of working to get what she wants the first words that come out of her mouth when someone says no are "You will do what I want or I will get my mafia family to come after you" like I said total moron! Although her reliance on her family are what made it possible for me to slip into her little click so easily.

_Flashback_

I have been in this class 3 days, Nonoko and Anna completely trust me, and some of the boys have start to approach Koko, I think they started to accept him just after our first P.E lesson. After all a silly game of soccer is nothing to him, I don't even think he smiled. Which lead to the creation of his very own fan club, which I have to admit is gross on all kinds of levels. But like I was saying 3 days have passed and Luna finally decided to grace us with her presents. She slammed the door open as she entered the classroom, a girl with green tightly curled hair not far behind her.

"I heard there was a new guy who is not only hot but good at sport and is smart too." Luna swayed her hips while walking in and talking to no one in particular no doubt she was talking about Koko, I glanced next to me, to find him sleeping on the desk, we had, had a rough night, I needed him to install cameras in the staff room and boy's dorms, so naturally we didn't get to sleep until way past 4 in the morning, I'm used to it its part of basic training you receive when your still an infant… However Koko not so much. But that girl has quick eyes and noticed me.

"You, I want that seat. So find another!" she ordered as she swayed over to me, seriously how old does she think she is, plus Koko is not even paying attention…

"I'm sorry, but I… I… I can't" I managed to mumble out, hopefully staying in character, after all I don't want to rely on Koko again, he must be so tired, to let his guard down.

"What did you just say? Listen little girl I don't know who you are, but don't get in my way, I am the heir to a well-known Yakuza, and unless you want me to kill your entire family I would move." Quick eyes dull brain what is wrong with this girl, rule number 1: hide your identity from the Katagi (Civilians) – the reason behind this is simple you either get thrown in jail, or you are murdered.

"But, I can't move or when he wakes up he will be really angry" I fill like a dodgy manga character my brain thinks one thing while my mouth says another. A crease formed on her forehead.

"Who do you think you are brat, didn't you hear what I said! SO MOVE IT!" she dragged me from my chair, damn I hate pretending to be weak. It's so horribly frustrating, as she began to sit, I began to cry, false tears but they were enough, the quite sobbing stirred Koko as I knew it would, he must have been on the edge of sleep since all the commotion started. So I continued to cry and Luna did the worse thing she could possible do in that situation.

"Arh you're such a baby, crying because I pushed you and took your seat." She laughed to herself.

"So it was you that caused Ichigo's tears." I heard Koko's voice and it had a dangerous edge to it. "Who the hell are you, and what makes you think you can sit next to me" he continued, Luna was shocked for half a second before she turned on what I think was meant to be a sexy and alluring voice.

"Oh don't be like that baby, I'm Luna and I'm going to be your new girlfriend so forget about that one" she pointed towards me. Bad move!

"Your disgusting, who would wanna go near you, just go die alone, AND NEVER touch ichigo again, or you will regret it." he jumped over the table and towards me. "Hey its ok don't cry, I won't let them touch you!" he patted my head and lifted me off the floor.

"I'm sorry I woke you nii-san, I know you're tired" I dried my eyes and let out a slight hiccup. He started leading me back to our seat but Luna was stubbornly refusing to move.

"Hey, I don't normally hit girls but if you keep sitting in her seat I will make an acceptation" she moved but before she sat in her own seat she turned and said.

"By denying me, it just makes me want you more." And then she winked, puke!

"I'll rather die witch." Was Koko's reply before sitting me down on my seat then leaning on my shoulder to fall back asleep? Which is a little over the top and stupidly protective but still it seemed to piss Luna off.

I tried to ignore her for the rest of the day, but I couldn't help but here the whispers about me. Damn maybe we went a little over board, if she avoids me now this would have all been for nothing, but as it turns out the opposite happened. At the end of last lesson she approached our table.

"Ichigo, may I speak with you, please" a polite Luna put me on edge from everything I have heard it doesn't seem like she does NICE, not only that but she is addressing by my first name, what is she plotting?

"Um, of cause Koizumi-san" better get this over with.

"Just, call me Luna, after all we are friends right." I don't like her smile she is surely plotting something, I had to stop my eyes from narrowing.

"Anyway I decided that, you can be part of my group, which comes with a lot of benefits" where is the but… what is she after… does she know who I really am…

"And since we are friend's maybe you can tell your brother about how cool it is to be around me… I mean us" she motioned towards that Sumari girl. Sigh I was expecting too much, she really is just an idiot, and is using me to get to my brother. But still this is my chance to get close to the moron.

End flashback

That was four months ago since I have celebrated my pretend 10th birthday - we moved our birthday to late winter, hoping that it would again decrease any suspicion on us – and have been subjected to more of Luna's crap than I can bare, honestly that girl needs a good slap in the face.

None the less I have found out some decent information, and it's not pleasant, so far it seems the Koizumi's are aiming to be the only Yakuza group in Japan so they are wiping out, setting up or merging the smaller groups. There is still no news on my father which is good to know, since it means that he is probably still alive, and that although us Yukihara's are in hiding they are still looking for our head which means they are treating us as their biggest threat, whatever the reason its win-win for me.

Being in Luna's clique is ridiculous she doesn't attend class, she sucks at anything remotely physical, and whenever her seductive ways fail (which is always) she resorts to trickery and her family name. To think my families greatest enemy, will one day belong to this, this insignificant girl.

It's disappointing. At least she gave up on Koko, it seems even she has a little pride, I guess three months of continuous insults and knockbacks will get to you at some point or another, although three months REALLY that girl has no shame, hell she is nothing more than the principles dog, stupid ignorant and obedient.

It's too bad she is a necessity to me right now, or I could kill her and end her pitiful life. But other than Luna, school is kind of… fun; unlike when I was in the village I have friends here, I'm not treated like an outcast and I don't have to pretend I'm a dunce either. Plus lessons here aren't so bad, well except those with Jin-Jin, he is an idiot that always thinks he is right, how any of these kids are meant to pass maths and get into middle school is a mystery to me.

Right now it's all about exam prep, the end of term tests are starting soon and even the kids here are trying to get the top spot, although its mainly because their parents are bribing them in some form or another, take my friends, their parents told them if they place within the top 10 of are year, Nonoko's been promised jewels of increasing value the closer she gets to the top spot – she had to promise not to use them in experiments though. – Same with the others (not the experiments to top spot stuff) horse for Anna, Kitsuneme's getting a guitar Mochu's drum's. Me however I'm aiming for the top for another reason, there is a gift for the students with the highest grades, and that's 2 weeks at home while school is still on, since this is an all year round boarding school with all the vicinities on site, well in central town, which is still part of the school, most kids don't even see their parents until graduation, they are put here and forgotten since if they were at home it might mean adjusting some of their busy schedules in order to take care of their children, I on the other hand can't wait to see Jii-san Koko feels the same, after all we dragged him along and then just left him, I feel so guilty and even if I get to write to him every day (he says that phones are ridiculous inventions and if it's not important enough to write down then there isn't a reason to say it at all) I somehow manage to get Koko to write a few words too - honestly I think being cool is going to his head, he is starting to remind me of Natsume, no don't think of Natsume that fox face, slanted eyebrows jerk always puts you in a bad mood happy thoughts Mikan happy thoughts… it's not working L … - where was I oh yeah, we are going to visit Jii-san, there is no doubt of us getting first place elementary school tests are so predictably easy, so I only have to make sure Koko doesn't get bored and fall asleep within the test. 5 days before the tests to go, then another week and I can see Jii-san.

I have already packed and somehow I have been able to get Luna to let me stay in all are classes, on the condition that I give her my notes after so she can make a copy, seems even she wants good grades, her dad promised to take her to every one of her favourite designer shops in Paris if she got high enough grades.

…

Well we did it not really much surprise but Koko and I got 100% in every test except Latin where we got 105% the extra mark came from when we corrected the test paper. So we are going home to see Jii-san 2 weeks of us being us, I get to see Koko be fun and we can spar and perfect our skills in different types of weaponry it's going to be bliss and the best thing of all no Luna and no spying I just get to be Mikan – well in the house after I check to make sure it hasn't been bugged, I get to be Mikan – my friends and Koko's gang saw us off from the gate, I had a list of things they want that even central town doesn't sell. Mainly they were items from tiny boutiques or a family run sweet shop, Koko's gang didn't give him a list, I think they were too scared to, so I found out if they wanted anything and added it to mine. Jii-san arrived in a black tinted windowed car; surprisingly it seemed he had decided to drive himself.

"Jii-san I missed you soooo much" I jumped into his open arms the moment he got out of the car, Koko gave him a brief nod before getting in, I followed. As we pulled away from the white wash walls that surrounded Gakuen Alice, I let out a sigh of relief, and promptly hit Koko on the head with as much force as I could muster, if he hadn't kept his training up, he would have been knocked out, either that or I have really let myself go, which I most definitely have not.

"OW MIKAN! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" he clutched his head and shouted at me.

"For being rude to Jii-san, and this is for saying my name in a place we haven't checked yet." I hit him again and he grumbled at me.

"Whatever, and sorry Jii-san, I have a rep to kept up hugging my grandpa in public would do serious damage to my street cred"

"Not as much damage as I will do to you face if you disrespect him again." I stuck my tongue out at him.

"HaHaHa how I missed you both" Jii-san chuckled from the front seat. I saw his wide grin reflexed in the windscreen, and immediately felt relaxed.

"Mikan, you have to promise, you won't let do anything spy-ish in the next two weeks… unless it's absolutely necessary and unavoidable" Koko turned on me all of a sudden with stern looking eyes.

"But, why, this is a good opportunity to sneak around their bases I know where many of them are already." He can't be serious, what is the point in wasting time I have to fix this as soon as possible before the Koizumi's succeed in taking over Japan.

"No, we are not braking into enemy territory without an alibi; if you want to check out their hideouts then we can sneak out of school at night. You need a break, when was the last time you just relaxed and had fun." Well that's easy to answer.

"Last week, when we all went to central town and pigged out on howalons" it was a glorious day, it's was still slightly cold but the howalon shop was having a competition to see who could eat the most fluff puffs. I won of cause with an all-time record of 83 fluff puffs, it almost brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. A hit on the head brought me back to reality.

"Buzz, wrong answer I said RELAXED, and you're never relaxed at school try again" he is right I wasn't relaxed I was mindful of my behaviour just in case I let out my full personality… I guess the last time I had fun without any pretence was the talent show all those years ago, it's always a big family event, where nearly all the members of the family get together to show off their brightest young talents, of cause that means that it's a who has the best aim, who is the strongest, and in the future who is likely to be at the top of the family, helping the head, and who is going to be used as an errand boy, but Hotaru was bored of that, after all it had, had the same results since we were eligible to enter at the age of 3, I was first Natsume a Close second and Hotaru third, then all the other members changing spots, some slide way down others surprised everyone and made it in the top 5, no like I said Hotaru didn't want to show off her spy skills that year since she was working on a major blackmail plan involving most of the heads and couldn't afford for them to cotton on just yet (naturally she didn't tell me that at the time, I found out way, way after so I acted under the assumption that 2 years with the same results, and a predictable third year just got to boring for her) instead she came up with a dance routine that she wanted us to learn and that this year we should enter as a team and surprise everyone, I agree straight away, it was a once in a life time opportunity, I knew if I turned it down she would never offer to do it again. We practise for 2 weeks non-stop even during meals she had us tapping the beat of the song on the table, I got to a point where I was dreaming that we were dancing… thinking back I didn't brood about my dad's situation or how I could find him at all in those weeks, maybe that was also a part of her goal… anyway I think that was the last time I truly had any fun.

By the time I had come to this conclusion we had reached to apartment, so I turned to Koko and said

"5 years, that's how long it's been since I just had fun, so your right I think I will treat this as a vacation of sorts… there is just one problem… I have never been on vacation.

So for the next two weeks Koko taught me how to have fun without thinking of the consequences, we went to a cinema and though popcorn at each other and at randoms, which got us kicked out halfway through the film, I tried more arcade games than I thought humanly possible, and after I told Koko about the talent show he introduced me to DDR and it turns out Hotaru borrowed quite a bit of our chorography from one of the extreme songs, every machine we beat the high score on we added a conjoined name of 'Ichiko', Jii-san would take us on picnic's and walks so we could spend time together, I asked him to play DDR with me but he said he was to old so I settled for the visits to different shines. At home we sparred and broke furniture, with the new weapons Jii-san had found and brought for us to try, by the end of each day I was too exhausted to even think about my-self-given mission.

By the time we were meant to go back to school I was more drained than when I left, I don't think Koko knows what R&R stands for. But I felt like I could take on whatever curve ball the world threw at me… boy did I over estimate, the shallow confidence that having fun can give you.

Sitting in the same car Jii-san had picked us up in I had one thing to do before I went back to being Ichigo.

"Koko, it's a little late, but I wanted to give you this, when this is all over, I will get one hand made for you, but for now I want you to have this." I handed him a gold chain with my mother's old wedding ring on it. "it's not much and one day I can get you a family crest which you can call your own for real, and it's pretty useless right now since all the Yukihara's are in hiding, but you never know if it will come in handy, Jii-san I want to give you one to, but you have to wait a little while, I clutched my own locket which still remained on my neck even if it is upside down. "Koko the crest is on the inside since my mother hated the family but was required to own and wear a crest she got it engraved into the ring, so that means you can still where it with fear of someone finding out… so will you accept my gift." He looked at me then pulled me into a hugged. The words

"About time too." Came out of his mouth. Which I took for acceptance.

"Mou, I'm sorry, but this was the first time I was able to find a gold chain that I thought would be strong enough so it would never come off" I said pushing away from his bear hug.

"Now come on or we will be late for class. Bye Jii-chan. We'll try and visit again as soon as possible." I kissed his check and jumped from the car.

"So after mid-terms then" Koko muttered and got out of his side. "See you soon old man" Koko gave him a brief nod of his head. I didn't mind this since Koko had said his true good byes earlier when we were still at home and safe from prying eyes. Jii-san Chuckled waved then drove away. I started to lift the bag of gifts from the floor before Koko took them off me with a quick look that was meant to say 'your weak remember' and we headed off to class. Back through the gates of hell!

"Good morning everyone did you miss us" I greeted the class when Koko opened the door for us, I didn't say it over excited or bouncy like I would have if I was being me, instead I let my voice squeak a little as I pretended it was hard for me to speak very loud.

"I have everything that everybody asked for including some stuff I thought you all might like. Well technically Koko is carrying it for me, as the bag ended up a bit heavier than I imagined, I let out my smile the same smile that I inherited from my dad, I figured it couldn't hurt since I hadn't seen anyone for a while I thought it would be an interesting way to greet them all.

The class was stunned into silence for a few seconds and I thought I saw two very familiar pairs of eyes open wide in slight shock, before chaos descended

"Ichigo your back, was the trip fun"

"Did you say extra gifts"

"Hey don't crowd her, I president of the Ichigo fan club should be the first to greet her"

"If Ichigo is here so is Koko"

"Boss your back"

"Koko-sama, Koko-sama, Koko-sama" – various fan girls

"Really where are the presents"

"Don't worry Ichigo we will save you" thank god that sounds like Anna and Nonoko, I just about saw them dive bomb through the crowd, but there were far too many people around me and I started to get dizzy I felt a strong arm pull me through the crowd, and when I turned to thank Koko, I was greeted by heart breaking eyes…

Eyes of the one person I sometimes dream about…

Eyes of someone who knows me so well, yet doesn't know me at all….

Eyes of the deepest crimson….

Natsume….


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 13 – what the hell is wrong with me… I mean you!

….

A/N – yes yes, it's long since overdue, but May is exam month, (yay-not!) so I spent most of April studying and only remember about the chapter, because I found a story idea, on a sticky note, that was mixed in with my revision stuff. So an IMPORTANT notices for you, since May is all about my exams it unlikely that I'm going to update during this time. So don't get your hopes up.

…

No, No, No it can't be, he can't… he just can't be here, what the hell is my uncle thinking?

Mikan Yukihara is dead; why the hell is he sending Natsume here, nosy old man can't he just leave a dead girl to take out the Koizumi's by herself!

Either that or this is all Hotaru's doing, wait does that mean she is here as well, oh no how am I meant to sneak around with hawk eyes and monkey boy hiding behind every corner. Well I have fooled them all before, looks like I am just going to have to pull off another miracle. Regaining my composure I remembered that Natsume still had my arm and was looking at me with some serious intensity.

"Um… thank you, for helping me I mean." I said hoping to distract him, and get away at the same time, so I lightly tugged on my arm, which he released, no doubt he forgot he was even still holding on to me, I wanted that to be the end of our communication, but as I was walking away, I tripped… over his leg, once on the floor he then proceeded to flip my school skirt expositing my striped panties to him. Which he raised his eyebrows at, and stood awaiting my response. NATSUME YOU PERVERT WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU TRIPPING UP A GIRL JUST SO YOU CAN SEE HER UNDERWEAR! God how I wish I could shout that, then I could punch him in the face and vent my anger, but instead I resorted to hiding my inner thoughts.

"Why… Why… Why would you do something like that" I mumbled letting my voice thicken and choke up readying for the tears. "We have only just met and I thought you were nice since you helped me but instead you just tripped me up" I let the first tear fall, I knew Natsume had never been comfortable with tears, especially my tears… well Mikan's tears… let's see how he deals with this.

"Why are you so mean, I haven't done anything wrong" I let the tears freely flow, and like I suspected Natsume was gobsmacked, even more so when Koko punched him in the face, which I know from the experience of when we spar, hurts like a bitch! Have to hand it to Natsume, he took it and recovered quick enough to dodge the second.

"What the hell are you doing" Natsume's voice had an all too familiar edge to it.

"I could ask you the same" Koko's tone mimicked Natsume's, crap I better act soon or this is going to turn into a blood bath. BAKA! BAKA! Both boys avoided the dangerous little circular bullets that came towards them but it was enough to diffuse some of the tension, looks like Hotaru is here, and she brought her baka gun, no, no, no, no, no what the hell is going on. I'm glad she is safe and all after what happened but she CAN'T BE HERE. NEITHER OF THEM CAN.

"Hyuuga she is dead, let it go, stop seeing ghosts and shadows where none exist" her icy voice held no emotion just like always, yet I could tell that what she just said cut her deep.

"Hn" was Natsume's only reply as he went to sit next to her. Unfortunately Koko wasn't quite done.

"Hey, new Kid, stay away from Ichigo and if you ever make her cry again, I WILL KILL YOU" damn Koko just keep your mouth shut, because you can't beat ME, Natsume is on a whole other level from you, even when we were young he used to fight on my level, never letting up. He trained relentlessly so that we three (including Hotaru) could stay together. As Natsume turned he raised an eyebrow glanced at me, before raising his gaze back to Koko.

"Is that a promise." He smirked. "But don't worry; I'm not interested in girls that wear childish underwear, she is all yours." He turned away and once he reached his seat, he put his legs up on the table, as he went to put a manga over his face, his hair moved I saw a flash of gold on his ear. DAMN that idiot the Yukihara's are in hiding, yet he is parading around Koizumi territory with the family crest hanging off of his ear, well if he gets himself captured I won't help. Speaking of help, by the time I had reached that conclusion Koko had got me off of the floor, and was wiping away my tears with his hand. Of cause if we weren't siblings and Koko wasn't known for being an overprotective big brother, it would look more like an action a boyfriend would perform, and from the waves of displeasure and irritation coming from Natsume's general direction I would bet he feels the same way, although why he is so bothered I have no clue, we don't even know each other!

Koko led me to our desk sat us down and lent on my shoulder to sleep, as was his habit ever since my very first encounter with Luna, he told me that this way I couldn't get into trouble without him knowing. As he made himself comfortable I got out my doddle book – it was meant to be my maths book, but even I don't care when Luna wants to skip those classes. Jin-Jin makes me dislike maths, which I thought impossible. – But instead of doing random sketches of what people are doing in class I wrote something to Koko.

_For you benefit the translation of their conversation is written below in italics_

Riri, fwqp qp qtsivfhuf pi szlhpl xqjl tl nigv ogzz hfflufqiu

_(Koko, this is important so please give me your full attention)_

Nig whjl qt hoflv hzz qfp uif ljlvn khn nig sgzz igf fwqp pfnzl io mvqfqux

_(You have it after all its not every day you pull out this style of writing) _

Kiu'f tlpp mqfw fwisl fmi, fwln'vl Wifhvg huk Uhfpgtl. Pi szlhpl hjiqk klhzqux mqfw fwlt

_(Don't mess with those two, they're Hotaru and Natsume. So please avoid dealing with them) _

Iw, Q hzvlhkn rium – nigv vlhdfqiu huk fwl mivk Wggxh rquk io xhjl qf hmhn

_(Oh, I already know – your reaction and the word Hyuuga kind of gave it away.)_

FWLU MWN FWL WLZZ KQK NIG FWLHFLU FWLT WQT! – Q'T PLVQIGP QO NIG OQXWF WQT WL MQZZ RQZZ NIG!

_(THEN WHY THE HELL DID YOU THREATEN TO KILL HIM! – I'M SERIOUS IF YOU FIGHT HIM HE WILL OBLITERATE YOU!)_

Mlzz yldhgpl Q kiu'f dhvl mwi fwln hvl, Q miu'f zlf wqt thrl nig dvn hxhqu. Q wlhv nigv uqxwfthvlp TTq… Qdwqxi, tipf io fwlt pfhv wqt, wlv huk tl. Huk ovit mwhf Q dhu flzz fwl Riqcgtq'p rqzz gp hzz. Ygf Q pmlhv Q miuf zlf fwhf whsslu!

_(Well because I don't care who they are, I won't let him make you cry again. I hear your nightmares Mi… Ichigo, most of them star him, her and me. And from what I can tell the Koizumi's kill us all. But I swear I won't let that happen!)_

_Kiu'f pslhr io tn uqxwfthvlp wlvl, huk ml yifw ruim Q mhp svlflukqux fi dvn_

_Don't speak of my nightmares here, and we both know I was pretending to cry_

_Fithfi! Fithfh! Dvn! Ov svlflukqux fi dvn! Qf'p hzz fw! Hp nig mlzz ruim!_

_Tomato! Tomata! Cry! Or pretending to cry! It's all the same to me! As you well know!_

I left it at that since class started, and Narumi-sensei was going off on one about some festival; don't get me wrong I love festivals, the stalls and attractions, well not the haunted house, that shouldn't exist, I mean ghosts are scary enough, why would you purposely want to call them, or SEE them!

Sigh, as much as I love festivals I'm not going to be able to fully enjoy this one, since if I do even one Mikan-y thing Natsume's going to be hot on my heels, I heard Hotaru just as well as everyone else, Natsume's still looking for me, which means that, that annoying genius brain of his is working overtime, and he has probably come to the same conclusion I have – that the Koizumi's have to go – which steered him here, and by seeing the old Mikan's smile he pounced and tried to incite a reaction from me by flipping my skirt. This also means I'm going to need to invest in some knew underwear, and ditch my patterned and polka-dot ones (yes I still have some with those types of designs, it's because they are so cute!) maybe I can buy some next time I'm in central town… even if it means cutting out a box or 2 of fluff puffs from my diet!

And as much as I love fluff puffs, I hate the idea of Natsume or Hotaru discovering it's me even more.

…...

NATSUME HYUUGA I'M GOING TO KILL YOU.

This is the ninth time this month, cut it out already, whenever we meet he does things to piss Mikan off; he flips my skirt, belittles the mafia and even calls me buy the colour of my underwear. I HATE HIM. And Koko is on the verge of fighting him. This is getting completely out of hand, it doesn't help that Luna is all over him which means he is always around our group, and he lets her touch him and cling on to his side, it's sickening. And can I do anything about it, no! I have to step back whenever he is around and pretend to be frightened of him. I have to tear up and hide behind Koko if he gets to close. Have to admit so far it's been pretty effective; I haven't had a single conversation with Natsume since our first encounter. Didn't think I would ever be able to say this, but I needn't worried about any close calls with Hotaru, since she is living up to her reputation as the ice queen. When I tried to approach her as Ichigo Sakura to keep in with the personality of the character she Baka gunned me, and told me that idiot germs can be passed on so not to talk to her again. If I was still Mikan that wouldn't have worked and I would have defiantly made her my best friend… I mean that's how it's always been. But since I was Ichigo, I cried and ran off to be comforted by Anna and Nonoko, speaking of those two our groups going for a picnic today… well most of the class are coming with us since it's a bank holiday, even Luna and Sumari are tagging along, unfortunately that means Natsume is likely going to show up so he can bully me some more. But I'm not going to worry about that, as right now I'm making a lunchbox to share with Koko, it's really amusing to cook with friends after all an experienced cook like Anna makes it fun, and the way Nonoko approaches food like it's some experiment makes it interesting.

"Nonoko" Anna's scream was ear splitting. "Just how many eggs are you adding." I peered over the counter to see what the fuss was about, it seemed that the fairy cakes Nonoko is attempting to make aren't going exactly as planned, there were a dozen egg shells scattered around her mixing bowl.

"What, I figured since you can't really taste the egg, it must be some kind of catalyst, so the more I add the quick the reaction will go" she tried to defend her actions, but when Anna lifted the spoon she was using to mix with and I murky sort of liquid dripped down from it, she sighed defeated, and when to put the whole bowl in the sink.

"Wait, wait, wait" I grabbed her arm from over the counter. "We can fix this… your just going to have A LOT of fairy cakes… hope you don't mind living off of them for a little while. Let's see by calculating the current weight of the bowl and subtracting the weight of an empty bowl and the sugar and butter already inside you should get the mass of the eggs and then we can adjusting the recipe accordingly, but you have to promise to follow it this time or you will just end up wasting ingredients ok" she nodded and helped me start getting the stuff together. "Actually Nonoko since you made so much, can I have some of the mixture please, I only need enough to make… 9, no wait 10 cupcakes." I better include Natsume otherwise I would probable get terrorized even more.

"Of cause here, after all you have done most of the work." She scooped out some of the mix and put it in a separate bowl for me.

"Thanks, I have to get back to my own cooking now, after all a hungry Koko is a horrible sight." With that I went back to my own work, I know how to cook, my Dad used to get me to read recipes, and when I went to live with mum, I was in charge of cooking on the good days she used to cook with me, and on the bad day Reo used to beat me if I messed up, or wasted ingredients, that why I reacted so much when Nonoko was about to throw her mix away, and then of cause I had to cover for it. This meant I had to help her instead of getting on with my own project, but Koko is easy to cook for he pretty much only likes savoury things, well except donuts.

So I just made the basic stuff which he likes, rice balls, omelette, grilled fish, miso soup and of cause cinnamon sugar donuts. It didn't take too long so that left me which plenty of time to work on my other project, I wanted to make a cupcake for everyone at the picnic, after all I'm just a cry baby that they all take care of, and although I won't be able to tell them, it makes me so happy that I'm treated like a normal little girl, and can do normal things like get invited on picnic's in the first place.

"Anna, Nonoko are you finished yet" I turned to find Nonoko arm deep in another concoction, and Anna seemed like she was taking measurements fit for a 5 tear wedding cake.

"Anna, remember we are going on a picnic not a banquet, only cook what you can carry." Nonoko what are you making now" they both looked up; Anna seemed surprised at her actions, stopped a moment then put some of the stuff she had out away, Nonoko simply said rice balls and then the mix in the bowl made a weird sort of bubbling sound.

"Nonoko I hate to break it to you, but that's not how you make rice balls, give me a moment and I will teach you." I just had to put my stuff in the fridge and pack up the last of my things. It's cool having our own kitchen.

"Ichigo, you're a life saver, I didn't know you could cook so well." Nonoko said as we were rolling rice.

"It's nothing much… My mum taught me a long time ago, see my dad loved home cooked meals, he always went on about how there was nothing better than eating with the family. Sure we could have had a chef, but he refused the idea, and since cooking made him happy, I practised so I could make him smile… his smiles light up rooms and fill people with joy, so I would do anything to see one… after he passed away I hated cooking for the longest time, but then I realised that Koko got hurt from seeing me in pain, so I started cooking again, this time to see Koko smile… Still I wish I could see my dad smile again." A wounded frown crossed my face, after all nearly everything I just said was true, I just switched my dad disappearing for him dying, and of cause I left out the face that family to my dad meant the family! We were silent for a while after that.

"Nonoko, I didn't make you feel uncomfortable did I?" after all it was basically the first bit of information about my old life I had ever given to them.

"No, I was just thinking that my parents are jerks but at least they are still here, the next holiday we have, I'm going to get them to spend more time together with me." Good because jerks or not, she would defiantly miss them if they were gone.

"I am officially exhausted" Anna sighed behind a mountain of food.

"I'm not surprised I told you, not to cook so much" it was scary the amount of food she had made by the time I had taught and helped Nonoko make 6 rice balls.

"But, now there is enough for everyone" she jumped happily, wow she sure recovers fast.

...

"Ichigo, your falling behind, just let me carry the box." Koko held his hand out, ready to take the ribbon bound box in my hand which I have been walking slowly to accommodate, and not jog it.

"It's ok big brother, I don't mind being a little late, you go on a head, Anna needs your help more than I do." I smiled back at him, he really was over protective.

Sure I could have walked normally and kept up with them, but I liked being outside and alone, Koko is a great big brother, but sometimes his over protectiveness is just too much, and ever since Natsume arrived it's stifling. You know the saying speak of the devil and he shall appear, well I know someone with crimson eyes that, that saying really applies too.

"Hey strawberry prints, your holding everyone up" he seemed to appear, and then he took the box in my hand away from me.

"Hyuuga, please give me that box back, it has something important inside." He looked at it.

"Is it for that big brother of yours? I think it is, so no you can't have it back, I'm going to hold on to it for a while, and I have said before call me Natsume." Hell no, I'm not giving into him.

"you guessed wrong it's not really for my big brother, so please be careful with it, and I won't call you by your given name until you call me by mine." I tried to make it sounded like that took a lot of courage for me to be able to say.

"I have no problems calling you by your given name Mikan; I will happily call you that." He smirked.

"How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not this Mikan person? And your always such a jerk, I don't blame her for leaving you!" the look on his face was heart breaking as those words slipped from my mouth, the sheer despair and agony shown was enough to make me hesitate and in a moment of weakness I felt that the only thing I could do was grab him and hold him close, say that it's ok now, because I'm right in front of him, and will never leave his side again, my hand was already halfway to reaching him before I managed to pull myself together, I have to remember that I'm doing this for him, I NEED to keep him safe, that's the only reason I'm doing this alone. It has to be punishment from god for all the fictional stories and lies that have been leaving my mouth since I became Ichigo, to have the person I love stand before me, yet I can't touch him, for fear he might get hurt is so frustrating. I can't just leave him in this state.

"I'm sorry, that was an awful thing to say, I know she must have had reasons for leaving, and I'm positive she will come back to you one day so… Natsume… you should keep smiling, you look better that way." I let out a truly Mikan worthy smile just for him, I couldn't help it, as much as my brain is screaming at me that I'm putting him in danger by even just hinting that Mikan's alive, my hearts protesting just as loudly about never letting him have that look on his face again, let alone be the cause of those emotions!

After that we walked in silence, I knew he was analysing every single word I said, finding meanings behind meanings. We still hadn't said anything by the time the picnic site was in sight, and the quiet was killing me, literarily it was suffocating. In the end I HAD to disruption it.

"Hey… Natsume… Um, I know I'm not Mikan or anything, and you probably just prefer bullying me, but I still want to be your friend… so if you ever need to talk, I'm here…." I sort of trailed off. Then realised just how that sounded and hastily added "I mean… I only say this since I noticed that you don't really talk to anyone… with the exception of Imai and she is a little scary, so I thought maybe you might be feeling a little bit lonely… anyway that's everything… thanks for carrying my box" god the more I said the worse it sounded, so the more I sped up, I'm such an Idiot, in the end I grabbed my box in just a way that would jog it the least then ran off to find my brother.

"What, were you doing with Hyuuga, and way did you let him carry the box that even I wasn't allowed to touch" Koko huffed at me as I helped him set out the last of our food. – He had already long since taken any of the bags I was carrying away from me, claiming I was meant to be weak and clumsy, I swear he only uses that because it's the easiest way to get me to do what he wants.

"Would you relax, he stole the box out of my hand and I didn't want him to do anything bad to it… then I said something awful and ended up apologising and saying I would become his friend…" I waved him off, it wasn't really a big deal, being nice and quick in giving forgiveness was just part of being Ichigo. And by this time I had already started to eat, which was good because I was staving

"I don't like it, don't you think that's letting him get a little to close" he growled out.

"Oh shut your complaining and eat something already" I held my own chopstick to his mouth with a piece of omelette already in place. He gave me one last look before allowing me to feed him.

"It's so weird how you two act more like a couple than siblings" Luna chimed up, no doubt having watched Koko steal more food from my chopsticks instead of his own; he kept saying that the stuff on my chopsticks taste better.

"I mean, don't you think Nat-Chan, why can't we act like that. After all we are a couple" she whined and pulled closer to him; what was she trying to do merge with his arm. And in Natsume's regular style he just hn'ed, and ignored her. It was so obvious the he couldn't stand the girl but I guess his way of getting to Luna was almost as advantageous as mine, the only thing I have to my advantage is that girls generally aren't as freely open with new boyfriends as they are with friends. I get to listen to Luna's 'girl talks' which mostly consists of boy talk, but sometimes it relates back to whatever is happening within her family. I zoned back into whatever Luna was ranting about just in time to here sometime good, very good.

"Nat-Chan, if you come round my house, I'll make you something and feed you" she pleaded to an unresponsive Natsume. Since he was ignoring and the mention of house seemed be make her remember something. – That wasn't the good thing; in fact it made me feel a little bit sick.

"Oh, that reminds me, since it's my 11th birthday this month, daddy said I can have a proper party at home, which means you all have to come, it's been decided already and daddy has already gotten and given permission for you all to leave campus on this occasion. Ichigo, Sumari you HAVE to stay over, and Natsume to, you can even share my bed… oh and the rest of you can stay round if you want since it will finish late, and you will be excused from school the next day." She smiled like a cat that's got its cream. As the conversation bubbled with excitement around us, I decided to make something up, as a reasonable excuse to get lost and possibly a tour of her house.

"Luna, you did say house right… as in a place with floors… and stairs…" I questioned her. And she gave me a puzzled look.

"Can you get a house without floors…? Ours has like 5" she seriously asked. I ignored her.

"That's so cool, when we go, will you show me around… see my parents only ever got us to live in penthouse apartments, which always have lifts… and even now that we live with our grandfather it's still a penthouse apartment. So I have never seen a house with more than 1 floor… except the dorms, and they don't count since none of the stairs are in the rooms.

"Well then sure… I'll give you a tour…" she shrugged and turned to answer someone else's question.

I didn't have to look Natsume's way to know his eyes were burning holes in me, so I did something that I knew would piss him off like it had don't since the day he first arrived, for reasons still unknown.

"Big brother" I tugged Koko's arm. He looked up from the remaining food and stared at me. I think he might have just been eating so no one asked him questions about my impromptu story. "Big brother I'm sleepy, from having to walk up here, can I lay on you like a pillow for a while." He smiled and wrapped an arm around me pulling my head to his chest. Even with my eyes closed I could feel the surfs of fury Natsume was releasing, they hit my skin like mini heat waves.

"Nat-Chan, can I sleep on you to." Luna tried out her supposed flirty voice again.

"No" was his only reply, evidently it failed.

Oh no, Luna's new made me forget about my cupcakes, but as long as there in the box I can always hand them out later. I'm so happy about that news it's hard not to smirk.

Luna's house equals Luna's dad's offices, and I'm betting my life that there are a fair few Koizumi related files there. Seriously I'm betting my life on it, because it I'm caught in his office that's me dead, which means game over.

A/N – alright I'm finally getting back to the action, and don't forget, this is exam month, so don't be expecting an update anytime soon. And again thankx for reading


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